Zootopia: Shadows in the Dark
by AgentExeider
Summary: It's been one year since the Savage Case that propelled Officer Judy Hopps to recognition. But things have changed, sitting just beyond in the shadows lies another mystery. A series of events that will threaten to upset the very foundations of Zootopia and change it's soul forever. A new conspiracy? or just a very old one that lies just beyond, like Shadows in the Dark.
1. Chapter 1: Timing

_*Author's Notes*_

 _Normally I don't put author's notes at the top of a work because I figure you're here to read the work and not my inner thoughts. But in this case I need to say a few things._

 _Firstly, I want to thank all the support and patience people have had for this story, and the support for this revamp project. I never expected this kind of support. I was honestly under the impression that very few people read this and I was just kind of putting this out in the ether never knowing where it was going. The fact that I have received many messages of love and support tells me that this revamp was the right thing to do because it's a story I care about, and you care about and I want to have it be the best it can be._

 _Secondly, I want to thank the following individuals who have taken the time in their busy schedules to help me with this, professional and amateur editors. Drummermax64, Euphonemes and Mordecai. I appreciate that you loved the story enough to help me fix it. I don't know how I can ever thank you enough._

 _Thirdly, I want to thank a very close friend of mine, you may know her, DarkFlameWolf. She was the inspiration for this revamp, telling me not to compromise my vision to fit what I THINK other people want. "Just write the story for you," she said. So I have and I am._

 _Lastly but certainly not least, I want to thank my wife MrsExeider, the two of us have been through ALOT in the last year, and many times I wanted to give up and she encouraged me not to. She has been at my side at a time when no one else seemed to, and she brought comfort when I was stressed out. She's been my rock through all of this and I want to thank her for being there for me._

 _I love you all, and my hope is that when this saga is over, it will be something really special for you, I know it's certainly special for me._

 _~AgentExeider_

* * *

Chapter 1: Timing

 _Zootopia…South Docks…_

The docks, a pillar of commerce and trade in Zootopia, where all sorts of goods being exchanged came into the city. As with any nexus of commerce it attracted the nefarious sort. Among the stacked boxes inside a particular warehouse was a desk filled with paperwork, which a garishly dressed camel was frantically cleaning out.

Samir Nagheenanajar (Na-gheen-a-na-jar) lived a life of excess luxury. He was wealthy, worked in both legitimate and illegitimate businesses, and lived life on those terms — the parties, the fur designs, booze, drugs, and womanizing. Though many would think it to the point of cliché for rich camels, in Samir's case, the description was an accurate one.

"Boss! The police are coming, we have to go!" shouted a camel guard from the next room.

The sound of sirens approaching reached his ears as Samir managed to stuff the last of his desk items into a duffle bag, cinching it shut. He grabbed his machine pistol and chambered the first round. He got up and walked to his guard.

"Time to go, back entrance. Now!" he ordered, his accent thick and glottal.

Samir and his three guards with haste made their way towards the back entrance. They were just about to leave when the back door burst open and a silhouette of a large rhino emerged against the backdrop of the bright sunlight.

"Now, where do ya'll think you goin'?" asked the rhino. His voice was deep and had a distinctly Zoo York twang to it. The four froze at the sight of him.

The guards tried to open fire, but the rhino was ready — he put a round into the first guard, who shrieked as his knee exploded in blood. Samir cringed as his white velvet coat was spattered with red. As the screams of his friend filled his ears, the second guard fired towards the rhino, missing by a mile. The rhino responded with a bullet delivered to the camel's chest with typical ZPD efficiency.

Samir and his third guard dove out a nearby window. The pane shattered, slicing through Samir's suit and his upper arm. His guard wasn't as lucky and caught his foot on the broken sill, which impaled his leg. Gravity did the rest, pulling him down and slamming his head into the pavement.

Samir bolted as fast as he could for the van. He was just about to throw open the driver's door when a loud, feminine-sounding "Hyah!" and a grey ball of fur leapt at him. The impact of something striking his face dazed his vision, and he felt himself staggering off balance. His eyes focused on a small rabbit in police garb as he tried to shake off his shock.

"Sorry, buddy, but your road trip has been canceled," Officer Judy Hopps quipped with a confident smirk planted on her face.

Samir couldn't believe his eyes; he'd been knocked down by a rabbit? He snorted dismissively and stood up, towering over Judy. His quick hoof dug into his pocket and pulled out a switchblade, snapping it open in one quick motion.

"A bunny rabbit? And a female at that? Heh, the police must be desperate. Go home before I decide that I need another fur coat," threatened Samir.

"Hate to tell you this, but I've heard better threats from an arctic shrew, and he was twice the predator you are."

"I'll cut your tongue out, rabbit!" screamed Samir. Judy's relentless grin incensed him to charge.

Samir swiped at Judy trying to knife her, but when he blinked, the rabbit had simply vanished. The sharp crack of a foot to the back of the head threw him off balance again. She wasted no time, striking again at the back his knee. The force of her blow buckled it, forcing him to the ground.

He caught himself with his empty hoof while trying to hold the knife defensively with the other. With Samir now down to Judy's height, she could plant both her feet on the ground, using her leverage to grab Samir's wrist and twist it into a joint-lock.

He screamed as soon as he felt his wrist pop.

"Let go, or I'll have to break your wrist!" demanded Judy.

"Fuck you, rabbit!" screamed Samir.

Judy twisted his wrist even further, eliciting an even louder scream. The pain seared in his joint, and the few rational thoughts in his head told him it was seconds from breaking. He let go of the knife, which clattered to the ground. Judy pounced and pawcuffed him.

"You have the right to remain silent, and I suggest you do so." Samir's face was planted into the ground; his snout smushed against the concrete.

"You stupid rabbit, you will be dead. I know people! I'm protected," Samir said through gritted teeth.

Judy knelt down. "Then we will arrest them too, sweetie," she quipped back with a smile on her face.

* * *

 _20 Minutes Later…_

The ZPD had responded to the bust in short order. There were squads of officers around the warehouse pulling out the cache of goods. Samir was locked in the back of a squad car, while his guards were being taken to the hospital.

A cheetah cop named Jerry was comparing notes with Hopps. "Good bust, Hopps, this guy was a _very_ bad camel," said the cheetah.

"Just curious, but what did you find?" asked Hopps as she pointed toward the cache.

"Well, all sorts of stuff. The catnip alone is going to get him 50 years. There was a lot of drugs, illegal weapons, and some tech stuff. We won't know the full extent until the guys down in evidence get a look, but this dude is definitely going away for a while."

Judy beamed at the news. She looked over to the squad car that Samir was sitting in, and seeing she had his attention, emphatically waved with her buck teeth perching over her lower lip, smiling at him all the while in a sly smirk.

Judy then remembered the duffle bag, and stooped to where the camel had dropped it. "You wanna help me bag all this?" she asked.

The cheetah nodded, and the pair went through it together, placing the illicit and incriminating contents into evidence bags: the papers and larger items, a bag of catnip, a cellphone, a gold pocket watch, and finally, a silver flash drive.

"Hmm." Judy studied it for a moment before placing it into the evidence bag.

From within the car, Samir saw that Judy was holding the silver flash drive. His eyes narrowed, as if burning the image of Judy into his memory. His focus was broken when he heard a tap on the glass from the front.

"Ey! Eyes front, stilts," mocked the officer in the driver's seat.

Judy finished putting Samir's personal effects into the evidence bags.

"You want me to take 'em, Hopps?" asked Jerry.

"No, I got them. Besides, that gives me an excuse to tell ol' Clawhauser the story."

"That cat certainly loves to hear your stories," Jerry chuckled.

Judy put the evidence in the trunk of her cruiser and hopped in the front seat. She sighed as she sank into the booster; the constant reminder that she wasn't big enough to drive the car was a source of teasing from her fellow officers she figured would never stop. She turned the key in the ignition, and started her way back to the station.

Once there, she took the bags to Benjamin Clawhauser, her favorite donut-loving fat cat and head evidence technician of the ZPD.

"Hey hey, Judy, what have you got for me today?" asked Ben. His chubby face lit up every time he saw Judy, and this was no exception.

"Hey, Ben!" she replied."Well, I have for you today," she began, drawing out her words for dramatic effect, "the bona fide personal belongings of one Samir Naga…..Naga," Judy said, attempting to read out Samir's last name.

Clawhauser raised an eyebrow and spun the bag around.

"Nagheenanajar."

"Right, er, what you said," replied Judy, both shocked and impressed.

"Well, you know the standard fare. I need you to fill out this form, and _of course_ tell me what happened."

Judy regaled Clawhauser with the story while she filled out the form. She recounted the details of the bust with some added drama, while Clawhauser listened like a kit hearing a bedtime story.

"And then I said 'Then we will arrest them too, sweetie,'" She hopped up on the desk and did her best to mimic her exact tone during the bust.

Clawhauser couldn't contain his laughter anymore, and it spilled forth from his muzzle like jelly from a donut. "That was a good one Judy, I love that," he chortled. "I'll get this done right away, and good job."

"Thank you," beamed Judy.

Ben took the form and the evidence bags and started to file them. Judy went back to her desk, filling out her paperwork on Samir's bust before heading back out. She got the urge to call Nick to tell him the good news.

The phone rang and rang before his voicemail picked up. Judy swung her feet under her chair like scissors, waiting for the voicemail beep.

"Hey, it's Nick, unless I owe you money, in which case, it's not." _beep_

"Hey Nick, it's Judy. Something really great happened at work today and I really want to tell you all about it. Plus there was, um, something else I have been meaning to talk to you about. I was hoping we could meet up at your place? Maybe get some dinner? By the way, thanks for taking me to that classic drive-in last week. I had a really good time. See you tonight."

She hung up the phone and clasped it to her chest, smiling extra big and giggling softly.

* * *

 _Meanwhile..._

In a broken down and sun-bleached tan LeBaron, complete with a dashboard peeling from age, a black smart phone vibrated with the words 'Carrots calling…'. A picture of Judy Hopps showed up on the screen. The phone went unanswered, and it dropped to voice mail.

Nearby, two foxes bolted out of a nearby arctic animal store. The foxes, one tall and the other short, were wearing A/C repairman uniforms. The smaller one tripped over a garbage can as they sprinted down the alleyway.

"Dammit, I _knew_ I remembered that guy from somewhere!" the wild-eyed taller one of them exclaimed.

"Shit, Nick, you _really_ need to keep track of all these people you scam," replied Finnick.

"That would take some time," Nick shot back.

The proprietor, a large and imposing polar bear, came running out of the store with a baseball bat.

"Come back here, you scamming sons of bitches!" screamed the polar bear.

"We're foxes, not wolves, asshole!" Finnick shouted back at him.

The bear's lumbering size betrayed his speed, and he'd managed to get close enough to take a swing at Nick, who ducked his head low enough for the bear to miss. The bat struck a dumpster, and Nick was almost positive it had left a dent.

The foxes spun around the corner of the alley towards their car at the last second; the polar bear tried to change direction but ended up sliding and losing his balance, skidding into a pile of garbage bags. The pair managed to make it to the car; Nick slid over the hood and leapt into the driver's seat. As he started the car and was ready to floor the gas, they were blocked by the polar bear, whose head was adorned with a torn black garbage back and a few fish carcasses. He bought the bat down, sending a spidering crack through the windshield.

"You will both pay for this!" he bellowed, and brought the bat up for another swing.

Nick slammed the car into reverse, which sent the bear toppling backwards off the hood. He righted himself much faster than Nick thought a mammal that size should be able to, put the bat in his jaws, and dropped to all fours to give chase. Nick whipped his head around and kept driving backwards until he had enough room to spin the car forward, jam it into drive, and punch the gas. He could hardly see through the cracked windshield, and swerved to dodge a dumpster he nearly missed. The bear rose up onto two feet and spit the bat into his front paws. Finnick flinched at the sound of their rear window being hammered by the bear, who gave one final swing and embedded the bat into the back window as Nick drove off.

They managed to get some distance, and Nick adjusted the rearview mirror to see the polar bear stomping and shouting as he got increasingly smaller. He laughed to himself and at Finnick.

"Well, at least we got away. Heh, that's something," said Nick. He elbowed Finnick in the ribs, but the fennec barely reacted.

"Pshh, this is the third job we couldn't pull off Nick. Let's face it fox, I think you're losing your edge," huffed his partner.

"What? No, I'm just in a slump, that's all. Don't worry, I'll come up with a great one next time," Nick replied.

"There isn't going to be a next time."

"Wait, what are you saying?" Nick asked. His voice had dropped, and the air between them felt thick and heavy.

"I'm hooking up with a real crew. Mammals who got resources, who got money, who can _successfully_ pull jobs," replied Finnick, leveling his eyes at Nick.

"You think I'm doing this for the exercise? I'm doing it to get paid," Finnick finished.

Nick's jaw dropped, and he lost focus on the road in front of him. He turned from Finnick back to the road and realized he was swiftly approaching a red light and a crosswalk full of mammals. He slammed on the brakes, and the baseball bat came loose and flew through the car's cabin. Finnick's height kept him safe from the missile , but the handle cracked Nick in the back of the head right under his right ear. The impact threw his head forward, and he smashed his muzzle on the wheel and yelped while the bat clattered to the floor.

Finnick simply looked at Nick.

"Definitely lost your edge, Wilde. Just take me home," Finnick commented dismissively.

Nick's ears burned, his head throbbed and he was pretty sure he was bleeding. He cursed under his breath, and they drove in silence the rest of the way to Finnick's place to drop him off. Once there, Finnick got out of the car without a word and shut the door. Nick sighed and made the trip back to his place. He parked his car in the space in front of his apartment. His ear was still ringing from the bat, and he could feel a lump starting to swell; he clutched his head and somberly made his way up to his apartment.

He stepped into his apartment, taking a deep breath before going over to the fridge and grabbing an ice pack and a beer. He popped the bottle cap with a claw, took a swig, sat on the crouch and went practically limp, applying the ice pack to his eye and cheek. He leaned his head back and felt the warmth of the evening sun on his head.

Nick's thoughts immediately went back to what Finnick had said. Had he really lost his edge? What was he going to do for money? Get a real job? _Who's going to hire a con artist with no formal education?_ he thought. Crime was all that Nick knew, and it wasn't paying well lately — and today, at all.

Nick was very content to drown in self-pity when he heard a sharp rap at his front door. He considered ignoring it, but proper manners won out and he dragged himself over to the door. He opened it with a creak to reveal an attractive and neatly dressed vixen in a Preyda dress.

"Hey Clara, is there something you need?"

Nick's mouth went sour; Clara was Nick's downstairs neighbor. He was loathe to admit she was the kind of vixen he would have run through barbed wire for in his youth: rich, shallow, vain, and pretty. He used to wonder what she was doing in a neighborhood like this, but her frequent boyfriends throwing what little money they had at her answered that quickly. Her recent boyfriend, though, had money to burn, which only seemed to incense Nick more every time he saw them. She was typically never followed by good news, but Nick figured his day was going to get much worse. "Hello, Nick. I was wondering if you could do me a favor?" she started. Nick could swear she batted her eyelashes at him.

"I don't know, I just got in and have been having-" Nick replied before Clara cut him off.

"Well, I just got a new cable service and I need someone to install it," she continued.

"Why didn't you get the cable guy to do it?" Nick asked. He hadn't meant for his words to be so clipped, but he figured she had about three more sentences before he closed the door.

"Actually, they only dropped it off. My boyfriend said that he was going to do it."

"So? I don't mean to be rude, but why don't you get him to do it?"

"Well, he's not here!" she huffed. "And you are, so I figured you could do it. There's 50 dollars in it for you."

Nick was about to dismiss her, but $50 didn't sound all too bad, especially considering he assumed he was out of a job. Until he decided whether he would try going straight again or he got his conning mojo back, $50 was $50.

Nick smiled diplomatically. "Sure, why not."

Nick went downstairs to her place, Clara following close behind as she explained the situation.

"Well, here is the box with all the parts in it. Sorry, I just don't know a thing about it," she said, gesturing to the box. "But anyway, I'm sure you can figure it out. You're good with all this technology, right Nick?"

Ten years and four girlfriends ago, Nick figured that sort of sweet talking might have worked on him. "Do you have a place for me to put it?" asked Nick.

"Of course, of course, I'm just trying to think of where you could put it. Maybe the bedroom... no, in the den. Yes, much more comfortable in the den, what do you think?" she asked.

"I think you'll get better performance in the den," replied Nick as they arrived at her apartment.

"Well, you're the big strong fox, don't let me tell you how to do those things," she chuckled, opening the door for them to enter.

"What can I say, I aim to please," he replied, putting on a fake smile.

"How long do you think it will take?"

"If I can get it in there quickly, about 20 minutes."

"Well now, you certainly know how to make a girl happy," she said.

Nick rolled his eyes. "I'm glad you're happy," he remarked, the toothy, faux smile still plastered on his muzzle.

"If you can get it done that fast, I might still be able to make it to my boyfriend's on time. There is a rather lavish party we are going to, you know."

"No, I didn't know," replied Nick. "Nor do I care," he muttered to himself.

Nick bent down and picked up the box. He turned to look out the window, and a sense of strangeness overcame him momentarily. He squinted at the window, but the feeling vanished as quickly as it had come. He shrugged and carried the box inside.

* * *

 _20 Minutes Earlier..._

Judy had decided to surprise Nick with some dinner from one of their favorite places, Panda-la. She wore casual workout clothes, she had the take-out bag in one paw and her phone in the other and pressed to her ear as she chatted with Fru-Fru Big. Being the godmother to Fru-Fru's kits, Judy frequently found herself going to the shrew for romantic advice.

"So, what did Nicky say?" asked Fru-Fru.

"Oh, I haven't told him yet," Judy replied.

"What are you waiting for? This would be a great time to tell him," Fru-Fru cooed. "You just got a big bust, you're riding high! I say go for it."

"Oh, I don't know," hesitated Judy. "I mean, what do I say? What will he say? What if he doesn't feel the same way?" she said conflicted.

"That's just doubt, girl. I've seen you two together; I can just look at you and just tell. I know, I'm Shrewish. We have 'the sense'."

"The sense? Mind running that one by me again?" chuckled Judy.

"There is a reason we have big families, you know," Fru-Fru continued. "We know when we find our match and we just go for it. You should, too."

"Maybe, if the timing is right. Still, I'm not so sure."

"Just let your conscience be your guide, honey, it'll be fine!"

"Ok, Fru, I will… consider it. Look, I have to go, I'm almost there."

"Ciao, bunny-sis," said Fru-Fru.

"Ciao," replied Judy.

Judy hung up the phone right as she arrived across the street from Nick's. She saw his car out front; the back window had a giant crack going through it, and the bumper looked to have a few new dents. As she crossed the street, she saw Nick talking to a vixen. She raised an eyebrow, confused. She debated on whether to try and listen in, but eventually curiosity got the better of her, and she tilted her ears to listen from the sidewalk.

"But anyway, I'm sure you can figure it out," the vixen stated.

"Do you have a place for me to put it?" asked Nick.

"Of course, of course, I'm just trying to think of where you could put it. Maybe the bedroom, no in the den, yes, much more comfortable in the den, what do you think?" she asked.

"I think you'll get better performance in the den." replied Nick.

"Well, you're the big strong fox, don't let me tell you how to do those things," she chuckled as she opened the door.

"What can I say, I aim to please," he replied.

"How long do you think it will take?"

"If I can get it in there quickly, about 20 minutes."

"Well now, you certainly know how to make a girl happy," she said.

"I'm glad you're happy," Nick replied.

* * *

 _20 minutes later…_

Nick emerged from Clara's place 50 dollars richer for a task as simple as setting up a cable box and TV. He was certainly grateful that Clara was not 'technically adept'. Either way, with cash in paw he went back up to his apartment. He grabbed his beer, now warm, and his thawing ice pack, and stuck them back in their respective places. With 50 dollars, he decided he could take Judy out to one of her favorite places.

Climbing the stairs back up to his place, he noticed he left the door unlocked – in this neighborhood, you could lose a TV or a couch for a mistake like that. After mentally slapping himself, he went inside and closed the door immediately behind him, the lock clicking softly as he flipped the deadbolt. A familiar scent lingered in the air... Panda-La, Nick's favorite take-out restaurant. Along with it was another familiar scent, one that made him smile from ear to ear.

"Ya know, you really _should_ lock your door around here, Wilde. Just about anyone could just waltz in," said Judy as she walked from Nick's kitchenette.

Holding the take-out in one paw and a couple of beers in the other, she delicately placed the items on the table. The open bottles clinked and rattled as they hit the table.

"Carrots!" Nick exclaimed.

She turned and offered a pair of chopsticks to the fox.

"You need to check your voice mail more often. I should be mad."

Coming down from his shock, Nick walked over and gave the rabbit a hug. While surprised at first, she returned the hug and patted him on the back.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

"I just had a _really_ bad day. I'm glad you're here."

"Always, Nick. Now come on, don't let your food get cold."

The two sat down on the couch and started to dig into their dinner. Nick took a bite of his noodles, and a small bit dangled from his mouth. As he slurped them up, they spattered a small amount of sauce on his muzzle. Instinctively, he licked his lips. He caught Judy's gaze, and she had a soft, warm smile on her.

"I love watching you eat, Nick," she said.

After a few refreshing bites and gulps of beer, Nick turned to Judy.

"So… how are things down at the station?" Nick asked.

"Things are good! We got a couple of new mammals, but things are good," she replied.

"Glad to hear."

"I got to do my first bust today," she said with a smile of excitement.

"Really now? How was that?" He smiled back.

"We took down a smuggler, a real 'bad guy'. But, and maybe I'm a bad mammal for saying this, but it was a rush. I mean, the heart pumping kind of rush. You know what I mean?"

"I'm happy, Carrots. You're making a real difference in the world," Nick replied, trying to maintain a smile but somehow still looking sad.

Judy could see right through his veneer. She reached over and patted Nick on the arm.

"I'm sorry, Nick."

"It's not your fault, Carrots. Not one bit. What happened, happened, because of my own choices."

"But still, it shouldn't have happened. I know who you are now and that's what's important," she said.

"I'm glad you still believe in me," Nick softened and petted her paw.

"Always, Nick, always. When we went through the missing mammals case, you stuck up for me and stood by me. That says more about your character than anything."

Nick simply smiled as a swell of pride ran through him. In spite of everything that had happened, Judy could always phrase things that cut right to the truth. It was a rare gift, and he admired her for it.

"So…how goes the job search?" Judy asked.

"Well, you know how it can be. I have to keep looking for just the right opportunity that'll take a fox like me."

"Nick, for what it's worth, no matter what you end up doing, I know you're going to be good at it," she said.

Judy studied Nick in the light of his apartment. She noticed the swelling of his right eye. It was slightly more closed than the other; she hadn't noticed it before, but watching Nick talk, she could see the stiffness in his face.

"Oh my god, Nick, your face," she said.

Judy stood and looked at the right side of his face, where she could clearly see swelling now and several spots where red tinted his fur.

"Did… did somebody hit you?" she asked in disbelief.

"It's okay, Carrots," he defended, batting at her paws.

"Nick, if somebody hit you, you need to tell me right now."

"Carrots… Fluff! Ugh, Judy!" he exclaimed, finally grabbing her paws.

Judy's gaze snapped to Nick's eyes, looking more embarrassed than in pain. He didn't want to tell her, especially not after the compliment she just gave him.

"It was an accident," he reassured her. "Finnick and I were moving some heavy boxes and one of them slipped out and hit me. I'm okay," he stated.

Judy looked back, taking it as an answer but unsure of its truth. An image flashed through her mind of someone attacking him just because of his species, but she could tell he was embarrassed enough and decided not to drag it out of him.

"Okay, Nick, I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions."

They studied each other for a moment, looking longingly. The moment was broken when Judy's cellphone rang out loudly. Judy pawed for her cellphone in her pocket holding her gaze a few more moments before looking at the phone's screen. The letters "ZPD calling..." displayed.

"Nick, I have to–" Judy said, holding the phone.

"It's okay, Carrots, I understand. Go save the city."

Judy paced a few steps away and answered the phone. Nick felt guilty: part of him wanted to tell her, to have some kind of support, but another part of him told him to remain silent. He felt he didn't have the right to dump his problems on her. She had a great job and was doing what she loved. Who was he to bring her down? If he left it up to her, she would take it onto her shoulders just like everything else. She was a good friend, and no matter how bad things got, having her in his life was his one saving grace.

Judy hung up the phone and placed it back in her pocket.

"Dammit, I have to go back to the station," she said with a visible expression of frustration.

"What? But you just got off work," Nick replied.

"I know, but the chief wants this smuggler guy interrogated as soon as possible, and he wants the arresting officer on standby. I'll be back though, if you want?"

"Yeah, I would love that," Nick replied.

"We could stay up and watch another movie on your cable box," she suggested, pointing towards the TV.

Judy walked over and hugged Nick.

"And get an ice pack on that face," she instructed.

"I know, Carrots, thanks for caring," he smiled, giving her a good squeeze.

She broke the hug and made her way to the door. Before stepping out, she turned back to see Nick on the couch.

"You sure you're going to be okay? I'll call you when I'm done," she asked, concerned.

"I'll be fine, Carrots," he said with a smile trying to reassure her.

She walked out the door, leaving him by himself. Nick picked up the bottle of beer and offered a toast for his friend before taking a drink. Nick thought how we wanted to tell her the truth, to tell her he was having trouble. He needed to, but the shame stayed his voice. The last thing he wanted to do was let her down and shatter her belief by telling him he was a hustler and a criminal. He would tell her eventually, but not now. Not yet.


	2. Chapter 2: Code 10-00

Chapter 2: Code 10-00

Nick awoke with a stir, which caused an empty beer bottle he fell asleep with to roll and tumble onto the floor. It was late; the air had a stillness to it that he was all too familiar with. He saw that the cover of night had settled outside his window. His memory fell back into his barely conscious brain as he blinked the sleep from his eyes. He remembered that he had eaten most of the take out and drank several beers before passing out on the couch. The apartment was dark, making him realize he didn't even turn on a light and that he had drank in the dark and alone. He took a deep breath and looked at his phone. 'No calls,' he thought. Glancing at the nearby clock on his cable box, he saw that it was 1:30 in the morning. Nick was concerned about Judy — it wasn't like her to say she would call and then not.

Nick tried to call her back, but the call went to her voicemail. He decided to call the station instead. He hit the number in his contacts and listened for the desk sergeant on duty.

"Zootopia Police Department, this is Sergeant Bates, how may I help you?" answered the station.

"Yeah, this is Nick Wilde. I'm looking for Officer Hopps, Judy Hopps?"

"…And the nature of your business?" inquired the desk sergeant.

"She was supposed to call me, and I just wanted to know if she was there?" replied Nick, trying to make it sound like official business instead of a personal call.

"Well, she isn't at her desk right now, may I take a message?" replied Bates.

"But she IS there?"

"Yes, she's here. I'm sorry, who is calling?" inquired Bates.

Nick didn't answer and hung up the phone.

Nick decided he needed to see her. He picked himself up off the couch and quickly checked himself in his bathroom mirror to make sure he looked presentable. After smoothing a few cowlicks, he grabbed his keys and made his way out the door.

* * *

 _Meanwhile…_

Judy was making her way into the station. She waved to the desk sergeant, who was organizing his paperwork, displaying her jovial smile to the wolf as she headed past him and towards the Chief Bogo's office. Normally, the chief wouldn't have her come in again, but Bates had told her that Bogo wanted to see her, so that's just what she was going to do. She arrived at his door and gently knocked with her small rabbit paw.

"Come in," called out Bogo from inside.

Judy opened the door and stepped in. Bogo was packing it in for the day, filing his papers into the outbox on his desk.

"Thank you for coming in, Hopps," he said.

"Anything, sir," replied Judy as she stood in front of his desk.

"Big bust today. You should be proud; that was some good work out there," he said.

"Just doing my job, sir."

"I called you in here because I have some suspicions about your smuggler," he stated.

"Oh?" replied Judy.

"There's something about him I find odd, something in the way he carries himself. I want you to handle it."

"Me?" Judy asked, pointing to herself.

"Well, you've been trained on procedure, and you have been asking to dig your teeth into something like this. Plus, I want you to see if you can get anything out of him before he lawyers up," explained Bogo.

"Thank you, sir. I won't let you down."

"I have confidence that you won't. Dismissed," said Bogo firmly.

After a sharp salute to her chief, Judy left his office. She made her way towards 'Interview Room 1', trying to contain her excitement. Though interrogation was serious business, she couldn't help but bust a few moves to an imaginary beat down the hallway. She used a nearby phone to call down to the holding cells and ask that Samir be brought to her.

A few minutes passed before the escort guard arrived at the interrogation room with Samir in tow. The tiger guard had, without saying a word, guided Samir to his seat in the room and transferred his cuffs from behind him to in front of him. He clamped the attached long cuff from the table to Samir's, giving him some freedom of movement, but not enough to do any damage or cause harm. The guard stepped outside, passing Judy.

"Hopps, you got this one?" he asked.

"Bogo just cleared me," she replied.

"Sounds good. Just be careful with this guy. He's got a mouth on him."

"Anything useful?" she asked.

"Nah, nothing like that. Strange thing though, he used his one phone call to call a dry cleaners. A dry cleaners! Seriously?! Should'a called a lawyer," the tiger said with a laugh.

Judy smirked in disbelief. It didn't make sense to her, but it was his call to waste. She strolled into the room and closed the door behind her. She looked at Samir trying to gauge how to approach their interview. Illuminated by the solitary overhead lamp, she paced up to the table with as blank and neutral an expression as she could display.

* * *

 _Meanwhile…_

Nick arrived at the ZPD. Even at night the place was a hub of activity; the city never slept with both diurnal and nocturnal mammals living here, and the ZPD was no exception. Parking his car in front of the imposing building, Nick surveyed the damaged rear window again. It served as a stark reminder of his previous failure and his guilt. Walking up the path towards the door, he passed by a few officers coming out of the station. Nick slid into the door just before it closed. Inside, the desk sergeant was busy being distracted with his cell phone. Nick, upon seeing this, decided to take the opportunity to sneak past him. He was snapped out of his tunnel vision when the grey timber wolf looked up from his phone and caught the fox. The wolf glared at Nick suspiciously.

"Can I help you?" asked the wolf feigning politeness.

"Just came to see someone in particular," replied Nick.

"And that mammal would be? Wait a sec, don't I know you?"

"Probably not."

"Yeah, yeah, now I remember! You were that fox recruit a few months back who got tossed outta here," the wolf said, nodding at his own confirmation.

"I just came to see a friend."

"Well, friend, this is a police station, not a night club," replied the wolf, a hint of irritation in his voice. Nick wondered if ZPD officers were this rude to all animals, just foxes, or just him.

"So why don't you get out of here before I arrest you for attempted trespassing," the wolf added.

"Ah, the wonderful hospitality of Zootopia's finest," quipped Nick.

The wolf stood up, his body tensing and teeth gritting in anger.

"You talkin' back to me, fox?"

Nick was about to crack a joke he was certain he'd regret when he heard an exuberant voice from out of his periphery.

"Hey Nick! How ya doin', buddy?"

Nick turned in time to get a bear hug from Ben Clawhauser, who was crushing Nick as gently as he could.

"Can't breathe, Ben," Nick squeaked.

"Huh?" Ben asked, tilting his ear closer to Nick.

"I said, I can't breathe," Nick muscled out a slightly louder response.

"Oh?" chuckled Ben as he dropped the fox back on his feet.

Ben patted Nick on the back and led him past Sergeant Bates.

"Oh, he's with me," Clawhauser called out over his shoulder.

Ben turned back to Nick as he led him back towards his post.

"Don't mind Bates, it's his job to be an asshole, and unfortunately he excels at the position," Ben remarked. "So, what are you doing here, Nick? Great to see ya, though! It's been what, six months?"

"Uh, just here to see Judy, and yeah, it's been a bit," Nick awkwardly scratched behind his ears.

"Well, she's interrogating a suspect right now, but I'm thinking you could hang out with me till she's done, that ok?" asked Ben.

"Sure." smiled Nick.

Nick had figured Clawhauser all wrong in the past, he really was a good cheetah. A bit of a super fan to Gazelle, but a good mammal all around. Back when Nick was still a part of the force, Ben was the supportive friend of Judy and him. Being the rookies and the newest species to join the force, there was still some who had their doubts about the pair, but Ben took it in stride. He got to know them and became the friend they needed when everyone else was just unsure.

When the two of them got back to Clawhauser's post, the phone on his desk started to ring. The cheetah leaned over and picked it up.

"Evidence?" he inquired, snatching up a donut hole that was on his desk and popping it in his mouth.

Nick tried to check his phone, but couldn't get a signal.

"Yeah, uh huh," Ben said to the voice over the line.

Ben's gaze moved to Nick as he saw him trying different angles to catch a signal. Ben covered the lower end of the receiver with his paw.

"Hey Nick, the vault screws up the signal in here. You're going to have to go out into the hallway for that."

Nick heeded Ben's advice and went out the door into the hallway. Clawhauser turned his attention back to the phone.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. I'll bring it right down," he said.

He dusted the powdered sugar off his finger and went through the evidence vault. Looking in the 'received' pile, he found the bag in question. He spun around and left the desk, going out into the hallway.

"Hey, Nick? I'll be right back. They need this down in interrogation," said Ben.

Nick gave a lazy thumbs up, still absorbed in his phone.

"That phone, always engrossed in that phone. It's like the whole world drops away," joked Clawhauser as he stepped into the elevator.

Nick ignored the mammals walking through the hallway to their respective places. He tried to lose himself in thought, but more than anything, he wanted to talk to Judy. Having dinner earlier made him realize that he owed it to her to be honest about himself and about what he'd been up to. He knew she would yell and remind him that he was more than just a 'two-bit street hustler', and that the whole thing would resolve into a hug, words of encouragement, and a straightforward talk of what to do about the future.

His preoccupied thoughts were interrupted as he felt eyes staring at him. He looked up to catch a ferret walking from the periphery to his right. It was a steely, cold expression, as if eyeing prey. The ferret noticed his eye contact, and a cruel smirk formed on the smaller mammal's muzzle. They kept looking at each other right until the ferret went around the corner. Nick felt a chill creep down his spine. He had dealt with all sorts of unsavory mammals before, even Mr. Big, and he knew when someone was up to no good.

"Wait, did he just come out of the evidence room?" Nick pondered after the initial shock of the sensation died down enough for conscious thought.

Nick turned and went to the evidence room door; he stood in front of it and reached for the door handle.

 _Meanwhile…_

Judy was in a heated interrogation session with Samir. She asked him about the nature of his business and showed him evidence photos of the illicit activities he was engaged in, trying to secure a confession.

"You can sit there and try to lie to me all night Samir, but we both know what you've been up to," Judy asserted.

"You know nothing, you stupid rabbit. Nothing."

Judy threw down photos of the catnip crates and weapons.

"You call that nothing? Because I don't. I call that life in prison," she countered, pointing to the photos.

"I will never see the inside of a cell. I've got protection." Samir chuckled, a smug expression forming on his lips.

"That's interesting, because the way I see it, we already got you, right here and now. Not a lot of good that protection is," Judy fired back.

Samir did nothing but shake his head and snicker under his breath.

"I figure you tell me who your supplier is, and maybe we can knock a few decades off your sentence."

"Oh, it's 'Let's make a deal' time, is it? Miss rabbit police officer?" The incessant arrogance on Samir's face refused to back down in defiance of Judy's threats.

"How about I offer you this deal, huh? You let me go, and my benefactors don't knock a few brain cells out of your pretty little head," Samir threatened.

"Threatening a police officer in an interrogation room, that's real smart," Judy commented.

"I would take the deal, you don't exactly have a lot of time. In fact, I'd wager you're almost out of it."

The pair were interrupted by a knock on the door. Judy sighed before going over and opening it. Ben Clawhauser was there with the evidence bag.

"What are you doing down here?" Judy asked.

"Didn't you have someone call up and ask for this?" inquired Ben, holding up the bag.

At that moment, a loud boom reverberated through the building. Judy clutched at her ears as dust was shaken loose from the walls and ceiling. The lights went out, followed by red emergency lighting switching on, bathing the room in a red hue. The sprinklers activated, and a fire alarm rang out. Judy and Ben looked upward.

"What the heck was that?" Judy exclaimed.

Samir slowly and mirthfully chuckled from his chair. Judy and Ben turned towards Samir.

"I believe that would be the sound of your time running out…"

* * *

 _Meanwhile..._

The police officers were responding to the explosion they heard from upstairs when another, much closer one went off. The sandstone yellow wall of the lobby had blown in, creating a hole leading to the outside. Smoke and particulates plumed from the hole, and a small pile of rubble had formed onto the floor tiling.

A large, intimidating hulk of a buffalo walked through the hole created by his breaching charge and stepped into the expansive lobby of the ZPD. Even at this time of night, there was still a full contingent of officers on duty. The buffalo's hoof falls made a resounding thud with each step and crunched chunks of drywall under his weight.

"Good evening, bitches!" the buffalo bellowed.

Several of the larger officers, tigers, wolves and a rhino, immediately drew their weapons and fired into him. The bullets were stopped cold by the heavy armor he was wearing and fell to the ground like metal rain. The rhino officer wasted no time and charged, dropping down to all fours to pick up speed. The bull cackled and readied himself for the impact. The rhino's horn landed dead center on the buffalo, a terrific metallic clang echoing through the room over the sound of gunfire. The buffalo barely budged, and the rhino fell to the ground. He'd only managed to leave a small dent in the buffalo's armor, and his horn was cracked and bleeding. The buffalo simply stared down at him with odd colored eyes, backlit and glowing a deep crimson.

"My turn."

With very little effort on his part, the buffalo grabbed the rhino's horn and placed a hoof on the back of his neck, ripping it 180 degrees. The loud snap of bone and tendons rang out as the now dead rhino police officer landed in a heap with a sharp thud. The sight of their comrade being struck down with such ease horrified the other officers, briefly interrupting their gunfire. They steeled themselves once more and resumed shooting. The buffalo stood silently, treating their fire as a minor annoyance, like rain befalling a summer day. As they looked on, they were stunned by what they were witnessing. It was unnatural and bordered on completely impossible.

The buffalo held out his hoof and pointed it at the officers. The digits folded back upon themselves and a seam on his palm opened. The whole of the hoof tucked back and transformed. Out of the void in the forearm came a six barreled rotary machine gun that slid into view. As it spun up, the officers managed to get off a few shots in a vain attempt to stop what they knew was coming.

The buffalo mercilessly mowed down the officers standing there like a thresher in a wheat field. The officers' screams were drowned out by the sound of high-powered gunfire as they fell under the hail of bullets. The once sand-colored pristine walls of the ZPD were drenched in the blood spatter of so many officers defending their station.

The buffalo cackled again as the officers scrambled like ants, desperately and futilely seeking cover behind anything they could find. With cold precision, the buffalo fired through tables, desks, and pillars, using his bullets to tear through the cover to kill the officers hiding behind them. He knew he'd delivered a lethal blow when a spray of blood would emanate from the holes created by his weapon.

Elsewhere in the building, other similar heavily armed and augmented soldiers were assisting in reducing the population of the building to zero.

As the gunfire raged on, the officers desperately tried to defend their comrades. Judy and Ben could hear the chaos taking place just outside the door. Another deep resonating boom came from upstairs.

Ben's blood ran cold. "Oh my god, Nick is up there."

Judy spun around "Nick?! As in _my_ Nick?" she demanded.

Judy panicked as she hurried out the door with Clawhauser and locked it behind them. Two more blasts from different parts of the police station rattled the walls, and more screaming filled the hallways. The dust floating around in the air stung their eyes. Judy could feel her eyes water, partially from the air, but also from trying to keep herself from thinking about Nick possibly being trapped in the carnage. She blinked her tears away and persisted forward.

"He's alive," she whispered to herself.

Judy and Ben managed to make it towards the stairs when a grenade blast went off near a desk, the force of which blew Judy off her feet and into a nearby office. The desk inside was tilted over and obstructed her view of the door. A nearby lion officer lay dead on the floor next to her. His eyes were locked in a horrified gaze that Judy stared into before turning away distressed. She didn't know the night shift officers well, but they were still her comrades in arms. Each had names, histories, and families. She knew entire lives were being shattered by what was going on. She felt a pang of guilt when she mentally slapped herself. _There will be time to grieve later, but now you have to keep yourself alive,_ she thought. Clawhauser had been knocked off balance and he stumbled into the office, his head still ringing from the explosion. He heard heavy footsteps, a rotating buzz, the loud crackle of gunfire, and the impact to his his back, which knocked him down.

He let out an anguished cry as the pain hit his brain. He had never been shot before, and the sheer intensity of the pain of his lungs slowly filling with blood was unimaginable. He choked as it suddenly became hard to breathe.

He rolled sideways and caught Judy's eyes. Judy saw Ben's expression. She had never seen such a look on anyone, let alone her best friend. Surprise, pain, and terror were plastered across his face. She was about to make a grab for him when he put up a shaky paw.

Tears welled up in his eyes, and he whispered through a wet sounding wheeze.

"Don't help me. I'm already dead."

Ben turned his head to his attacker, who grabbed his ankle and dragged him back out of the room. Judy could see a line of his blood smear across the floor before his attacker grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air like a ragdoll.

"Alright, you're the fat bastard that handles all the evidence. Where's the rest of Samir's crap?!" demanded the attacker.

Judy peeked over the desk to look at the shooter. All she could tell from the voice and shape was that it was a male buffalo. He towered taller than any buffalo she had seen before, at least half a head taller than Bogo, and he wore heavy plate armor.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Clawhauser whimpered.

Another figure stepped into view. It was a feline, a lynx with dark spots on a tan coat that stood much shorter than the buffalo. His ears bore the little tufts of fur typical of lynxes. He approached his comrade, his steel blue eyes scanning over the bleeding Clawhauser.

"Barrett, quit playing with your toys. We have a job to do," chided the lynx in a thick accent.

"This little fat cat knows where the stuff is…"

"That doesn't matter. We're demoing the building anyway.".

The buffalo looked back at Clawhauser.

"Ooh, too bad you for you, kitty."

The buffalo extended a long double pair of blades seemingly attached to his arm and rammed them through Clawhauser's chest. Ben gasped in pain as he felt the cold metal puncture his lungs. The sound of the blades sinking in, the audible squelch they made as liquid filled his lungs, the blood running down his body, Clawhauser trembled at the pain and the fear. He tried to cry out, but all he could manage was a soft squeak, the pain alone stealing what little power he had in his voice. Tears streamed down his face. He knew what was coming, and was powerless to stop it.

Judy went wide-eyed. She had to cover her mouth with both her paws to keep her from screaming as she watched Ben Clawhauser die before her very eyes. She wanted to shriek, to call out for him, but to do so would mean death. These animals were clearly not taking prisoners nor leaving any witnesses.

When Ben stopped moving the buffalo retracted the blades and dropped him, the cheetah slumping to the floor lifelessly. Panicked, Judy slid back down to hide under the desk. The buffalo turned, stepped into the office, and looked around, sniffing a couple times. Judy's heart was pounding against her chest. She prayed that he wouldn't find her, closing her eyes tightly trying to make herself as small as possible.

"Please don't find me, please don't find me," she pleaded in her mind.

The buffalo crouched down, sniffing the air. There was another smell in the room, not just Clawhauser's. Kneeling right next to the desk he inhaled again, huffing his breath. He was mere inches away from Judy, the only thing separating them being the wood of the side wall of the desk.

"Barrett! Let's go," the lynx called out.

The buffalo snorted. He dismissed the smell as that of the dead lion nearby. Standing back up, he turned around and left, the sounds of his thudding footsteps receding into the mayhem.

Judy waited a minute for her breathing to calm down before she dared to move, then she quickly scurried to the door and grabbed the evidence bag stained with Ben's blood. She walked out the door and stared at Ben's limp figure on the floor with sorrow, his expression frozen in one of pain and horror. Tears welled in the corner of her eyes, and she shuddered knowing she'd never see him again.

"Oh, Ben," she whispered, her voice breaking over the sight of him.

She wanted to cry for him, to mourn him, but she knew she had to keep moving. She scanned the main foyer; everyone was dead. Bodies and blood were everywhere. She was alone.

There was an eerie quiet that settled over the station, and it unnerved Judy as much as the gunfire just minutes prior. The precinct had always been bustling with life, but now it stood like a crypt. The feeling of the sheer loss of life, of life being drained from a place and tragedy left in its wake was beginning to overwhelm her. All these officers had their lives cut short, and all of their families would have to learn to live without them. Her thoughts drifted to Nick.

"Oh my god, Ni-"

"Judy!" Nick's voice rang out through the stillness like a church bell.

She turned towards the staircase and saw Nick at the top. His fur was coated with dust from the air, but she noticed he didn't have any blood on him. She sprinted up the stairs, but debris blocked her path to him.

"Nick, are you alright?"

"I've been better, but I'm not hurt. What the hell is going on?"

"I'm not completely sure. Can you find a way down? We have to get out of here. I heard one of them mention blowing up the building."

Nick looked around and saw a window leading to a sub roof outside the floor.

"Yeah, I'll meet you out front."

Judy suddenly realized there was someone who could answer for this. She quickly bolted back down the stairs and headed for the interrogation room. With her tranquilizer gun drawn, she kicked open the door and moved inside. There was a hole blown in the back wall behind the chair, and Samir was gone. All that was left behind was his opened cuffs posed in the seat of the chair, mocking her.

* * *

 _Meanwhile..._

On the roof of the ZPD, Barrett's allies were questioning Chief Bogo and Asst. Chief Boggs. Boggs, a hippo, had already been shot and tossed off the roof, landing with a sickening thud. Bogo had been shot several times and was bleeding heavily. The soldiers had them on their knees, and when Bogo wouldn't tell them what they wanted, they dispatched Boggs.

"Where is Judy Hopps?" questioned the lynx.

"You honestly think I'm going to tell you? Piss off and quit wasting my time," snorted Bogo.

The lynx cuffed Bogo hard in the ribs. The buffalo turned back and spat out some blood, giving the lynx a hard scowl.

"If you want me to answer, you're gonna have to hit me a lot harder than that."

"That can be arranged," the lynx sinisterly replied.

There was a loud screech of rubber down below, causing the soldiers to turn in the direction of the sound. A tan and aged sedan was trying to leave the area, dodging around the abandoned and blazing cars. Its balding tires squealed as it sped away.

"Harding, plate," the lynx ordered.

One of the soldiers, an armadillo with a sniper rifle, nodded to the command. He scoped in and scanned the plate just before it went around the corner and out of view. He raised his head up and put two fingers to his ear, listening to the voice on the other end.

"A Nick… Wilde? Fox, aged 33?"

The lynx turned back to Bogo.

"Tell me, who is this Nick Wilde? Let me know and I'll consider killing you painlessly."

Bogo shrugged. He winced; he was pretty sure one of the shots had torn his pectoral. "Beats me," he answered.

The lynx grabbed Bogo by the neck. Despite being several feet shorter than him, he was nearly crushing the buffalo's windpipe in his grip.

"I am in no mood for games anymore," he spat.

"Neither am I," Bogo choked back.

Bogo had managed to grab a concealed knife from his ankle and stabbed the lynx through the arm. He wrenched the knife as hard as he could, but instead of blood, clear, viscous liquid ran from the lynx's limb. There was no fur underneath. Instead, the hole revealed a mass of metal, carbon fiber muscle, and clear tubing spilling more of the clear liquid. The lynx released Bogo and cleared the torn skin from around the wound.

Bogo couldn't speak. He looked around and noticed the soldiers were a bit too perfect in form and shape, all unnaturally symmetrical.

"Who… What the hell are you mammals?" he asked.

The lynx put his arm up and stared at Bogo through the triangle-shaped hole.

"The future," replied the lynx, and then shot Bogo in the chest. He shoved him hard with a paw, and the last thing Bogo could hear was a metallic whir coming from the lynx's wrist before he plummeted and crashed into a squad car below.

A black helicopter flew in overhead and landed on the roof. The last of the mercenaries, plus Samir, had come from below. They carried the evidence bags of Samir's bust and a large black bag.

"Get this shit into the chopper," the lynx instructed.

A female lioness, her armor much different than the others with smoother, angular edges of carbon fiber plating, was the last to come up and approached the lynx.

"Everything is set, Jarod," she said.

"Good. Natia, it's time to go.

The soldiers quickly piled onto the helicopter and took off. After flying half a kilometer away, Jarod nodded to Natia, who hit a button on a small black remote detonator.

A blinding flash filled the streets as the precinct exploded. Black smoke billowed up from a gaping hole left in the center of the station. Flames grew around the building, igniting cars and nearby structures that were crumbling from the force of the blast. The glow of the fire cast a light onto Jarod's face, who smiled. His last thought before the helicopter turned and flew away from the scene was how markedly the hole in the ZPD's roof looked like a flower.


	3. Chapter 3: Ultimatum

Chapter 3: Ultimatum

Nick looked in the rearview to make sure no one was following them. He intended to get as far away from the ZPD as possible, trying his best not to collide with anything. The city blocks passed by like a flipbook, all becoming a generic blur of city grey mixing with red brick. There was a quiet atmosphere in the car as the harrowing events they just escaped from started to sink in. They listened and felt the 'click' of tires hitting the seams in the pavement. The regularity of the pops felt like the movement of a clock, creating a palpable tension in the cabin.

The shock was slowly wearing off, being replaced by a dull chill running through their veins. The hum of the engine was dominating the cabin, interrupted only by the occasional repeating clicks of Nick's turn signal when he changed lanes. After several minutes, he turned to look at Judy, who was staring straight ahead with a dazed look on her face.

"Are you ok?"

Judy sat silent, still freaked out by what just happened. Her mind was still fixated on Ben and all her friends. The sheer power and sudden nature of their deaths. On a deep level she was relieved that she and Nick had made it out alive, but that relief gave rise to guilt which only furthered her conflict.

"Carrots, are you ok?!" Nick asked again, a little louder this time. Again, Judy remained still.

"Judy!" he shouted.

"Huh? Oh, uh, yes, yes, I'm fine." Her pupils were small, and her ears lay flat down on her shoulders.

"What the hell was that? What happened?" asked Nick.

"I don't know. I… really don't know."

Judy thought for a moment and shook her head. "I can't believe he was...I mean, how?"

"What's going on, Carrots? It's not every day you see soldiers bust into a police station and destroy the place."

"We, I mean, I had this collar today, the bust I told you about. He's a, smuggler, a camel named Samir. He said he was protected and that he was certain he wasn't going to get punished for his crimes."

"Well he's certainly right about that," Nick said.

"What the heck were you doing at the station, anyway?" she asked.

"I wanted to talk to you. I tried to call you, but you didn't answer."

Judy reached for her phone only to realize that it wasn't in her pocket. She banged her head against the seat back, gritting her teeth in frustration.

"Damn it!"

"What?"

"I left it back at the station. What was it?"

"What I wanted to talk to you about?"

"Yes! I want to know what was so important that you almost got killed over it!"

"Well, it's not like I knew the station was going to turn into a war zone!"

"Besides, I think we have bigger things to worry about, Carrots," he added.

"Yeah, you're probably right, sorry," she said. "We need to get somewhere safe." The bunny tapped her lips with her index finger in thought.

"Well, I know of a place," Nick said.

"You do?"

"Yeah." Nick let the wheel slide through his paws as he turned onto darker streets. Another few clicks of the tires passed before he spoke again. "Are _you_ alright?"

"No I'm not."

He waited for more, but as the car slipped into the deep shadows of unlit buildings, he consigned himself to impending silence. "Yeah...neither am I."

Nick drove farther into Savannah Central, past the housing and storefronts. They were quickly surrounded by warehouses, storage units, the occasional eighteen wheeler trailer in a loading dock. The storage units were peppered everywhere like weeds. Nick knew it well; it was a vestige from Nick's old life as a street hustler looking to stash his hoard. It wasn't an impoverished area, but the buildings around them were certainly low-rent, where property owners committed to little upkeep, choosing to replace rather than repair. Given the age of many of the buildings, repairing them was prohibitively expensive, but the city didn't care enough to condemn them.

Nick pulled up to a unit, a nondescript white box of a structure that conveyed nothing of its contents. In many ways, that's what Nick liked about it. The bland hues and lack of markings meant it looked exactly the same as a dozen other units nearby.

He stopped the car, fetched a key ring from out of his cupholder, and jingled the keys in his paw as he got out to open it up. Judy slid over and took control of his car as Nick opened the door. The sputtering of the engine echoed off the walls of Nick's safehouse. Judy parked the car, turned off the engine, and stepped out just as Nick flicked the light switch.

"What is this place?" Judy asked as she glanced around.

Nick's "safe place" was a large storage garage that had been renovated into a living space. It had a workbench, a small folding table with a laptop computer, a couple cots in the corners, a fridge, and even an old TV. In Nick's mind, it was everything a mammal would need to live on for a few days. He could see the gears in Judy's head spinning.

"Yeah, this is kinda what I wanted to talk to you about," Nick said.

Judy looked around and saw a whiteboard with pictures of different Zootopian businesses, notes, magnets, and clippings. She contemplated the items that were in the space and and as her thoughts started to collect, one conclusion came to mind.

Judy turned around and glared at Nick with an incredulous expression of shock and disappointment. Nick had his paws cupped together, attempting a lackluster smile of innocence. The fear of her impending reaction was painted across his face, and he knew she was reading him like an open book.

"You're pulling jobs?!"

"Just small ones, teeny ones, I swear," replied Nick with a nervous smile, pinching his fingers together.

Judy paced and held her paws up on either side of her head.

"Wait a minute, let me get this straight. You have been masterminding crimes while associating with a police officer, who _also_ happens to be your best friend?"

"Mastermind is such a strong word," Nick began. "I've just been thinking up, er, simple things, really, just to get by."

"How long?" Nick cringed as her voice transformed from shock into the prickling tones of disappointment.

"Four months." He shut his eyes; he couldn't bear to see her glaring back at him now.

"So… the whole time," Judy replied, her voice soft and hurt.

Judy's nose twitched, and she could feel herself tremble from both the anger and the sadness.

"Here I am busting my ass trying to catch criminals in the city, and I have my only friend in the world acting as a common criminal himself. Nick, I thought we agreed to no more jobs?"

Nick's normally jubilant expression had melted off his face, leaving behind drooped ears and a sullen look.

"Not to mention it happening right under my nose. Why, Nick?"

"Why? Because Carrots, I'm damaged goods. Did you forget that?" Nick scowled. His expression hardened as her accusations sunk in. "Because I certainly did. I got so caught up in working with you, I forgot that I'm one of the bad guys."

"Nick, you're not one of the bad guys," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"Yes I am, Judy, with a mugshot and paw prints. I have a record, so yes, I am a bad guy. Maybe not as bad as the crazy bastards that just shot up the station, but still a bad guy. And nobody wants to hire a two-bit criminal, and I was fooling myself to think otherwise. A fox has to make a living, and I can't live on charity."

Judy stood there in silence. Her pain had finally made it to her eyes, and Nick's heart tightened as her normally bright and happy eyes started to tear up.

"So that's it then, you're just giving up?" she asked.

"Well, I'm not sure where else my skills would have value," Nick said.

Judy bit her lower lip, her foot twitching nervously, tears glossing over her eyes. She folded her arms as if she was holding herself up and looking like the loneliest bunny in the world.

"I watched Ben die," her voice cracked.

Those words stabbed at Nick's heart like a knife. Benjamin Clawhauser was the gentlest soul he knew. When Nick came to the ZPD, Ben saw the same potential that Judy did in him and was always supportive of them both.

Nick stepped toward Judy, who practically jumped into his arms and buried her face into his chest. He couldn't find the words; for all his wise cracks and acerbic humor, it was moments like these that he was tongue-tied. He closed his arms around her and petted her head softly, not knowing what else to do.

More than anything, he wished he could say or do something that would make it all go away, but he was just a fox — no more or less mortal than the friends left behind on the station floor. They stood there for quite some time, with only the sound of their breathing and the occasional sniffle from one of them.

"I'm sorry," Nick whispered.

Judy looked into his eyes. Nick could see hers were already red from tears.

"I'm sorry I let you down."

Judy heaved a sigh and patted the fox's chest.

"Just… Just be honest with me. I need you to be honest with me, now more than ever," she said.

"I know I should've, I was just–"

"Feeling ashamed?" she finished.

"Heh, that easy to read?" he smiled.

"Only to me, you big dumb fox."

Nick guided Judy over to the living space he set up, using a nearby cot as a bench seat. They took a moment to collect their thoughts.

"What is this all about?" asked Nick.

Judy dragged over the nearby folding table and pulled out the evidence bag she had tucked in her belt, stained with dried blood. She winced as her thoughts drifted to Ben and his last words. Steeling herself, she opened the bag and dumped its contents onto the small table. The items were a normal assortment that could be anyone's: keys, wallet, pen, handkerchief, a small pen knife. The only item that stood out to her was a small silver flash drive. She picked it up and looked at it.

Her concentration and the silence was broken by a ringtone, Nick's cellphone playing "Try Everything," which they both knew was his ringtone for Judy. Nick pulled it out and looked at the screen, the words "Carrots Calling…" displayed. Nick's eyebrow shot up.

"Well, answer it," Judy insisted.

Nick tapped the answer button and placed it to his ear.

"Hello? Yes, this is him."

Nick listened to the voice a few more moments before taking the phone from his ear and putting the call on speakerphone.

"Greetings, Officer Hopps," said the voice. It had a slightly nasal twinge to it, stressing his "S"s.

"Who is this?"

"An interested party that only wants to seek a peaceful resolution to tonight's … shall we say, incident."

"You mean the wholesale slaughter of my fellow officers and friends," she fired back.

"I can understand you're distraught, but all I want to do now is prevent further bloodshed. I was not responsible for ordering the attack on your station. I simply represent the interests of others."

"What do you want?"

"If you haven't figured it out already, I am interested in a particular personal item of Samir's. One that was not in the collection of items we procured earlier this evening. My employers are certain that you have it. A silver flash drive?"

Judy shot a worried glance at Nick then back to the cell phone.

"I'll take your silence as an affirmation," said the voice. "I will put this as simply as I can: if you bring me the drive, then all of this goes away. You and Mister Wilde can continue on with your lives such as they are."

"And if we refuse?" she asked.

There was a few moments' pause before they heard a disquieted sigh on the other end of the line.

"Bunnyburrow is not that far by helicopter, and Mrs. Wilde lives but fifteen minutes away."

A sheer icy terror came over Judy, her mind repeating images of the massacre at the station and the untold horror of it being visited upon both of their families. She was in shock again, unable to move, unable to speak. Nick took the reins of the call.

"Listen, we understand completely what you're meaning. Just let us know where to go and we will be there. There is no need for anyone else to get hurt."

"Very well, and I agree, for what it's worth. I'm texting you the address. Be there within the hour."

The line closed with an abrupt click. Nick and Judy simply gazed at each other, letting a frightening silence fill the room. They exchanged worried glances at one another before he checked the phone for the location.

"This is near the ZPD."

"Hmph… that's probably a statement in itself," replied Judy, a look of defeat settling across her face.

"Yeah…" he replied dejectedly.

"I hate this feeling."

"What feeling?"

"This feeling of being powerless. I don't like the idea of giving in to terrorists."

"Carrots, you're not suggesting we don't —"

"Of course not! They threatened our families. _Of course_ we have to give them what they want. I just wish there was another way... time to find out what's on this thing."

Nick pondered for a moment as an insane possibility crossed his mind. Without saying a word, he stood up off the cot and went over to the nearby supply cabinets. Judy watched the fox as he rummaged through the different drawers and shelves.

"Aha!" exclaimed Nick as he found his prize and held it up triumphantly in his paw.

Nick walked back over to the cot and picked up the silver flash drive. He set them next to each other, and Judy saw that they were similar in shape, both resembling small rounded bricks but of different colors.

"Nick, what are you thinking?"

"A way to give us time," he replied while offering a reassuring smile toward Judy.

* * *

 _Later…_

They arrived at the location, a two-story parking garage attached to the nearby bank. The air was cool and it had begun to drizzle, putting a fine sheen on everything that it touched. Nick had parked the car facing directly toward the exit just in case things went south. His hope was that the voice on the phone was sincere, but Nick was leaving nothing to chance. They had arrived early and were the only presence in the garage. Judy's small stature allowed her to sit on the edge of the hood of Nick's car without deforming it, while Nick leaned against it, arms folded and pensive.

"I'm worried," said Judy.

"Why?" asked Nick.

"I'm worried that regardless of how this goes they may just kill us all anyway."

"They won't, Fluff."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because whoever these mammals are don't want whatever's on that drive getting out. You heard that guy, they want it resolved just as much as we do."

"But the station—"

"Was an exception. They weren't there to just shoot up cops, they were there to collect Samir and everything you guys had on him."

"Nick, have some respect," she snapped, a fire in her tone even as her ears drooped.

Nick softened. His tail grounded itself, and he went to one knee. Judy was trying to avoid his eyes, but he waited, and eventually, she gave in. "Er, sorry, Carrots. You're right. But they're already dead. We have to start thinking about keeping ourselves alive."

Nick placed a paw on Judy's shoulder.

"Judy, there will be time to grieve later. But right now, we are still very much in the middle of this. And I promise that after this… I'll be there for you."

"Thank you, Nick. I'm still not sure about this, we still have no idea what's on this thing," Judy said. The worry furrowed her brow, and she clutched the drive in her paws as if it was the most important thing in the world.

"Exactly. We don't know, and without it we have no evidence of anything. So if we were to go to the press or even the ZPD, we would look like crackpots."

"But even then, Nick, how can you be—"

"Carrots! Please trust me, it'll be fine," he said, shooting a worried expression at her.

Nick could tell she was scared - so was he - but he also knew that if the plan worked, they would be able to take the time to figure out a way out of this mess. His worry now was tipping his paw to whomever may be watching. His instincts told him they were being surveilled somehow. Nick sensed motion in his peripheral vision, a figure from behind the nearby pillar. Startled, he turned to face the figure; the mammal was shorter than him, a ferret, possibly a stoat. The darkness concealed the figure's face.

"Greetings, Mr. Wilde," said the mammal. His voice sounded like the one they spoke with on the phone.

Nick pushed himself off the car's hood and took a few paces toward the figure.

"Okay, let's do this," said Nick.

Judy slid off the hood, making a soft impact as she landed on the concrete. She sighed with a defeated expression on her face. She took the silver flash drive from her pocket and handed it out to Nick. Just before Nick could take it, she held it up just out of his reach.

"How am I supposed to know you'll leave my family and Nick's mom out of this?"

"Because Miss Hopps, I have no desire to make this any larger than it has already become."

Judy glanced out the nearby opening of the garage and could still see the glow of the fire from the ZPD flickering above the nearby buildings. A lump caught in her throat, but she gulped it down, trying to keep her emotions in check.

"I'd say it's pretty big."

"Not my department," said the figure.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The mammals I work for have many resources at their disposal. But if a problem can be resolved quickly and efficiently, they will take it. As long as we get the flash drive back, you'll never hear from us again. All you have to do is paw it over," explained the mustelid.

Judy heaved a heavy sigh and placed the flash drive in Nick's paw. Nick turned back towards the figure and held it out for him to take.

"I'll remember you said that."

"Hmph. Mr. Wilde, we'll likely never meet again," he said as he took the drive from Nick's paw. The mustelid with his other paw placed Judy's cell phone into Nick's paw. "Only seems fair that Ms. Hopps gets her phone back," he stated.

"Uh, thanks." Nick clasped the cell phone.

The mustelid receded back into the shadows, leaving just as quickly as he arrived. Nick turned around and walked back to the car. Judy grabbed Nick's paw and tugged on it, and the fox turned to her.

"I hope we didn't just make a mistake."

"I'm right there with you, Carrots. But we didn't have much of a choice."

Nick and Judy got back into his car and drove out of the garage, unsure of their next move.

* * *

Nearby in a black sedan, the mustelid waited for Nick's car to round the corner before turning on the cabin light and removing some of the fake fur extensions attached to his face. He used his claws to comb out some of the spirit gum that kept the fake fur attached. The mustelid was a weasel, his fur dark brown and smooth.

He rolled the flash drive in his paw and held it up to inspect its round edges and silver appearance. He used the claw on his thumbs to scratch the drive, and the silver paint peeled under the claw to reveal a black surface. He smiled in response to the revelation.

"Of course, Mr. Wilde. I wouldn't have expected anything less."

He chuckled softly while he set up a phone call. It rang a number of times before he heard the click of a receiver being picked up.

"Tell them that I have retrieved the key," said the weasel.

"Did you eliminate them?" asked the voice on the other end of the line.

"No. I didn't feel it was necessary. My only concern was the retrieval of our property."

"I'm not sure how _they_ will respond to that. They normally don't like loose ends," said the voice.

"It was the path of least resistance."

"Well, regardless, _they_ wish to see you."

"Really?" the weasel smiled.

"Yes, and if I were you, I would not keep them waiting."

"Tell them to expect me shortly."

The weasel ended his call and started the car. He turned off the cabin light and drove out of the garage into the rainy night.


	4. Chapter 4: Unforeseen Consequences

Chapter 4: Unforeseen Consequences

It was morning by the time Nick and Judy arrived at Finnick's house. It was a modest home for Savannah Central, a small brick structure built decades ago and renovated with each new tenant. There was a small patch of grass in the front, someone's attempt at adding greenery, but the sheer lack of space between the property and the curb allowed only for a tiny strip in front of the house. The neighborhood was quiet; in fact, Nick couldn't tell whether the houses next to Finnick's were just quiet or empty. Nick parked on the side of the street and approached the stained wood door with Judy. Nick reached up to knock on it, but the door creaked open slowly as he made contact. The hinge offering a descending groan as it slowed to a stop. The pair looked at one another before stepping into the house.

"Finnick?" Nick called out, a combination of worry and fear crossing his mind. He had to shake the images of violence out of his head, keep his cool and not assume the worst.

No answer came from inside the house. Nick and Judy moved with care as they stepped into Finnick's living room. The room was trashed; drawers were scattered around the floor, the couch cushions were thrown aside, and everything had been knocked off the tables.

"Someone was here, looking for something," Judy whispered.

Nothing that a burglar would desire was missing. The television was present, but broken, a sunray-shaped radial shatter spread across the plastic screen. Nick swallowed hard and started to doubt for the safety of his friend.

"Finnick?" called out Nick again, this time with more insistence in his voice.

Nick went over to the staircase and looked underneath it. As he stood back up, the sound of a shotgun slider chambering a round, the feel of cold metal jammed against Nick's head caused him to freeze. Judy spun around and pointed her weapon at the sound.

"Don't even breathe, or you're dead," said the deep voice.

"Don't worry, I won't," replied Nick. "Wait..."

The deep bass tones of the voice behind him were all too familiar.

"Finnick, is that you?"

"Nick? Damn!"

Finnick climbed out of a box that was on the stairway and came downstairs, quickly closing the blinds.

"I knew this had to be about you," Finnick said.

"What?" inquired Nick, a look of confusion replacing his worry.

"What do you mean, what? Look at this place! Mammals were all up in here, messing it up. Lookin' for something. I take it you haven't been watching the news lately."

"Haven't exactly had the time, been kind of…" Nick paused and looked back to Judy. "Busy, to say the least."

"Why the hell did you come back here?"

Nick sighed. "We need help. Bad."

"Of course you do." Nick always thought Finnick sounded at least mildly pissed off, but the increasing irritation in his voice was obvious.

"Look, while you boys figure things out, I need to check in. Do you have a phone, Finnick?" asked Judy.

Finnick cocked an eyebrow. "Check in with who?" he asked.

"With the ZPD, of course. I have to call in to another precinct and let them know there are survivors," replied Judy.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you. Stay right there, you really need to see this," Finnick said, holding up a paw.

Finnick went over to his TV and propped it back up. He turned it on, and the screen crackled to life despite the spidering crack in it. Finnick changed stations and turned on the news.

" _And this morning's top story, the ZPD precinct attacked. Now being called the "ZPD Massacre," there has been a breaking development: Police are saying to be on the lookout for Nicholas Wilde, now thought to be connected with the events of the police station attack. Nicholas Wilde was a former Zootopian police officer who was terminated six months ago after his previously undiscovered criminal record came to light._ "

The news report flashed a photo from Nick's graduation ceremony of him in uniform. The screen cut to a grainy security cam video.

" _In this footage obtained by ZTV, we can clearly see Wilde going into the evidence vault area of the ZPD to help plant the bombs that claimed the lives of at least 47 police officers. He leaves and, according to analysts, uses the device in his paws to program the bombs._ "

The news showed footage of Nick entering the evidence vault and subsequently walking out of the room before pulling out his phone and typing on it.

Nick turned to Judy, who was still fixated on the TV screen as her picture came up.

" _Police are also on the lookout for Wilde's known associate, Officer Judy Hopps of the ZPD. Police are urging that you do not attempt to approach them, as they should be considered armed and extremely dangerous. Again, Nicholas Wilde and Judy Hopps are being sought in connection to the recent bombing in downtown. We will update this bulletin as more develops._ "

Finnick flicked the TV off and looked back at the two as jolts of shock electrified each of them. Life seemed to stop for a moment as they processed what they just heard.

"So? Like I asked before, why the hell did you come back to the city?" Finnick asked coldly.

Nick was still in shock, ears pinned against his head. Judy walked over next to him and ran her paw along his arm. His paws were balled up into fists, shaking, teeth gritted tightly as he faced the TV. The hackles on the back of his neck stood on end.

"What the hell? How...How could anyone say that we did that?! Those were our friends, we knew them, their families."

"Nick, calm down."

Nick stormed across the living room and slammed a fist into the wall. "Son of a bitch!"

"Nick please, just stop," she pleaded, placing a paw on his arm.

"What are we going to do, Judy?"

"I don't know yet, but just calm down. We can figure this out," she said while caressing his arm.

Nick took a deep breath and collected his thoughts, "Why lie about this? ZTV isn't some trashy tabloid."

"Whoever is running this wants to discredit us," Judy said. "To keep us from being able to get help. Someone up there has to be involved with the bombing. That would be my best guess."

"No one will actually believe us. They'll think we were a part of it," Nick said.

Judy thought for a moment. "But why go to all the trouble?"

"To cut you off," answered Finnick.

Nick nodded in agreement.

"Exactly. Because if Officer Judy Hopps goes before the city and tells them mysterious soldiers killed a precinct full of cops to try and cover something up, the mammals of this city would listen and take note. They don't want this getting out anymore than it already has," Nick said.

"What _did_ happen here, Finnick?" asked Judy.

"Guys dressed as SWAT came here looking for you," he replied.

"Guys dressed as SWAT? Why would the police come here?" she asked.

"I don't think they were ZPD, unless the ZPD SWAT team is rolling around in executive SUVs with foreign-made weapons, that is."

Nick and Judy glanced at each other.

Nick pulled out the flash drive from his pocket and held it in his paw.

"Whatever is on here must be important."

"We _have_ to find out what's on this thing," replied Judy.

Nick nodded in agreement. He picked up a small ball-chain from the broken lamp on the floor, took off the end piece and looped it through the flash drive's eyelet, closing the chain into a loop. He walked back over to Judy and placed the makeshift necklace on her.

"I think this will be safer with you," he said.

Judy tucked it into her shirt to conceal it.

"Nick, you think the trio could handle this one?" asked Finnick.

Nick stood silent as he contemplated the question. Judy noticed this and immediately inquired.

"Who are the trio?"

"Some really good computer experts that I know way back from my less scrupulous days," Nick replied with a smile. "Which are still these days, I guess. Point is, we go back."

"And?" Judy pushed.

Nick breathed a sigh and finished her prompt, "And, they are mammals I go to for more complicated jobs, like security systems and things like that."

Judy sighed and went along with it. She knew that Nick's former life had been his recent one. Though under normal circumstances she would say something, chide him, but at this point she realized they would need all the help they could get.

Finnick grabbed the keys to his van and threw them at Nick. He fumbled them in midair but managed to catch them before they hit the floor.

"Finnick… your van?" he asked with a puzzled look.

"Take it, Nicky. In fact, take whatever you want from this place. I'm getting the hell out of here."

"Why?"

"Look, Nick, not to be insulting, but you ain't exactly safe to be around right now. I don't want to be within 10 miles of you when whatever you got caught up in goes off. I'll live a lot longer if I just get off this ride right here and now," he said.

Finnick went upstairs and grabbed his prepared bag of supplies and essentials.

"This is what I came back for when you two showed up."

Finnick grabbed the rest of his stuff, including his shotgun, and left out his back door, leaving Nick and Judy in silence.

Nick couldn't blame him. He was right; Nick seemed to be having bad break after bad break. He was genuinely hurt by what Finnick said. Lately it seemed every time he tried to change the status quo, he tripped up. And this was something he didn't want to trip up on if given the chance. He shook his head out of it, then turned to Judy.

"Okay, Carrots. We have to make our way there and we can't take the highways, so this is going to take a while."

Judy nodded. As Nick turned away to survey the room for anything useful, she could see so much grief written on his face. She felt bad for him. She wanted to let him know he wasn't alone in all of this.

"Right, let's get going," she replied.

Judy grabbed some food from Finnick's fridge and a few bottles of water while Nick reached under the kitchen table and pulled out a gun that Finnick had put there. He counted the ammo to make sure it was full. Judy looked back at him, stunned.

"And just who are you expecting to be using that on?" she asked, knowing that it was police looking for them, almost not wanting to hear the answer.

Nick looked back at Judy and seemed to stare past her.

"Anyone who tries to hurt us," he said with a conviction that simultaneously intimidated Judy and gave her hope. He released the slide, and it snapped forward with a loud click.

They left Finnick's house and started the van. As Nick began to drive, the fine rain from the night before returned, giving the air a slight shine as the early morning sun peeked over the city towers. Nick kept to the side roads and indirect routes he knew. The city's design was centered on using main highways and thoroughfares to get between the boroughs. However, if one used the correct set of side streets, alleyways, and bypasses, they could move around the city with a relatively low presence.

The distribution of the traffic cams determined Nick and Judy's route, which required they stay away from the main highways. The highest clusters of such cameras were affectionately termed "Jam Cams" by the ZPD and the population alike. These were primarily used to monitor traffic patterns and help city planners determine locations for new roads and ramps to relieve congestion. However, the camera system also had the added benefit of allowing those with access to watch the mammals of Zootopia. It was something of a controversy that was debated even to this day, and it was this exact reason why Nick made sure to navigate a route that would keep their presence on the cams to a minimum. The downside was that what should have been an hour's drive would require several.

The drive was calm, the rain-slicked streets slowly drying as the morning drizzle gave way to the midday sun, and though the pair would make idle small talk, the drive provided time for something they had up to this point been putting off: reflection of the previous night's events. And while Nick had the benefit of at least being able to focus on driving, Judy had nothing to do but ride as a passenger.

Sometime in the afternoon, as they were backtracking across Savannah Central for the third time, her emotions finally reached the surface. The tightness in her chest forced her to unbutton the collar of her duty shirt, but it didn't provide any relief. The tension seemed only to get worse, causing her to pant slightly. Nick turned his head to see her clearly distraught.

"Carrots? Are you ok?" he asked.

"I'm… I can't…" she managed to squeak out.

"Hold on, we'll find a place to stop."

Nick managed to find an alleyway that was just ahead of them and pulled the van into it. The brakes squealed as the van came to a hard stop. Judy tugged on the door's handle several times before she thought to pull the lock tab. Her last pull caused the door to open and the cool air to rush in through the opening. She practically fell out of the van and collapsed to her knees. Her guards clattered softly as they hit the concrete. Nick jumped out of the van's driver seat and bolted around the front.

"Judy!" he said, trying to reach out for her.

He reached down and hugged her, holding her as she sobbed into his chest, the turbulent emotions of events finally catching up to her. Nick didn't say anything, opting instead to let her embrace him and cry. He wasn't even sure what he could say. He resigned to simply be in this moment for her.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she repeated over and over when she found the strength to speak. She clutched to him like a scared kit waking up from a nightmare.

Nick glanced over her head to the nearby sidewalk in front of the alleyway. Pedestrians were walking by, and with the exception of a few curious glances, Nick and Judy's presence was unnoticed. Despite their seeming anonymity, he worried that any longer exposure like this would attract unwanted attention. He held her with one arm while standing up, picking her up off her feet and carrying her back into the passenger side of the van.

He sat her back upon the seat and knelt next to her in the gap between the two seats.

"Judy, talk to me," he said, trying to dry the soaked fur around her eyes.

"They're dead, Nick. They're all dead," she croaked in a voice still tight with grief.

"I know, Judy, I know." He spoke softly in an attempt to soothe her.

"And Ben, oh my god, Ben," she cupped her paws against her eyes. "I should have done something—anything."

"Judy, you can't blame yourself. There was nothing you _could_ have done."

Judy looked up from her paws into Nick's eyes. Her nose twitched as her paws shook in fear. Nick could feel himself getting caught up in it himself, but he remained strong for her.

"That wasn't even the worst of it. You'd think it would be, but it's not," she said.

Judy's eyes might have been looking at Nick, but he could tell she was remembering. Her eyes took on that unfocused gaze that happens when one is lost in a powerful memory.

"After he was… finished with Ben, I remember those hoof steps as he stomped into the office. I was hiding under the desk, and I could almost feel his hot breath as he was sniffing for me. I tried to make myself so small. I kept praying for him not to find me. I—"

She went silent for a moment as the memory stole her voice, and new tears fell from her eyes.

"I kept thinking, 'I don't want to die'."

Nick's eyes started to water. His stomach dropped as he tried to honestly imagine the feeling of an impending death. Almost automatically, he pulled her in for an embrace, and slowly stroked her head.

"Judy..."

"I should have… I should have died with them. They were my friends. I should have—" she sobbed.

"Don't talk like that."

"I took an oath, Nick. I made a promise. I should have been with them at the end."

Nick pulled back just enough to look her in her eyes, practically nose to nose with her.

"Judy, it wouldn't have made a difference."

"But Nick, it was my duty to—"

"Listen to me!" Nick used his paws to cradle her head so she couldn't look away. Nick suddenly realized he too was feeling the terror of it: his heart racing, shortness of his breath, the feeling of being hunted.

"It wouldn't have made a difference. Not one damn bit of difference. They would still be dead, and you would be, too. You would leave behind all the mammals who care about you. And all we'd be left with would be nothing but a bullshit explanation and words of condolences." He struggled to fight through tears.

"I know what you feel and I know you want to blame someone, but you can't blame yourself, you just can't. There was nothing you could have done. There was nothing _I_ could have done. Our job now is to find out why it happened and why they would go that far for such a small thing.

Nick went silent for a moment as he mulled over his next thought. His ears drooped and sighed.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry I wasn't there for you," he said.

"Don't, Nick. Please don't blame yourself, either."

Judy swallowed the lump that formed in her throat and took several deep breaths. Her nerves began to dissipate in the comfort of Nick's arms. Her sadness moved to the back of her mind just enough for her to think clearly.

"You're right, Nick. We have to figure this out, not just for our survival, but so they won't have died in vain. That's what we can do for them."

Nick replied with a soft nod. "Couldn't agree more, Carrots."

"Thank you," she said.

"For what?"

"For being here now." She hugged him tight, burying her muzzle into the warm fur of his neck.

"Anytime, Judy. Anytime."


	5. Chapter 5: Like a bolt from the blue

Chapter 5: Like A Bolt From The Blue

Nick and Judy arrived in the Rainforest District. Neither had said much since their emotional breakdown hours earlier. Nick could see the sad and sullen look on Judy's face in the seat next to him. Neither had slept, and the tragedy and constant fear of being stopped by their fellow officers was ever present in their minds.

"So where are we going exactly?" asked Judy finally.

"We're going to see some experts that I know. They specialize in this sort of thing," replied Nick.

"Do you think they will be able to read this?" Judy asked. She absentmindedly reached for the drive through the fabric of her shirt, double checking for the tenth time that hour it was still there.

"If anyone can, they will."

They arrived near a natural wooden house built into a tree that was overlooking the city center of Zootopia. Downtown was lit brightly like a beacon against the night sky. From this distance, its gleam almost made them forget about their troubles for a moment as they drunk in the skyline. But reality crashed back in to remind them where they were going and why. The fake news story alone gave them a sense of foreboding as to what they might find on the flash drive. The memory of their friends burned in the pit of Judy and Nick's stomachs, and the compulsion to avenge them was the only thing driving their tired bodies forward.

Nick pulled the van up to the curb in front of the house and turned off the engine. He heaved a sigh, and the two got out of the van. They walked slowly up the small paved pathway that split the patches of overgrowth, carefully noting the multiple cameras mounted on the porch covering every angle. When they reached the door, he buzzed the doorbell.

"This is private property. No solicitors, " called out a voice over a nearby intercom speaker.

Nick leaned toward the speaker and held the 'Talk' button.

"Let me in, it's Nick."

"Nick who?" inquired the voice.

"Nick Wilde."

There was an awkward moment of silence before the voice answered, "Eh, never heard of him."

"Just let me in, Langley!" Nick shouted.

"Hang on," replied the voice with an annoyed tone.

A few moments passed before they both heard the sound of a lock being opened, then another, and another, down the door jamb. The door flew open with an otter looking suspiciously through the screen door at them; first at Nick, then to Judy, then back to Nick again. The otter leaned close to the screen. Nick took the cue and did the same.

"Who's the girl?" asked the otter.

"She's with me, you can trust her," replied Nick.

"And that's Officer Hopps, not just _a girl_ ," she shouted.

The otter's eyes shifted between the two.

"Normally we wouldn't, but in light of what's been said on the news about you, well, any friend of Nick's..."

He opened the screen door to let them in. As they walked passed him the otter scanned the road in front of the house before closing the door and locking it.

"By the way, I wouldn't go shouting your name like that in this neighborhood," the otter advised.

He escorted Nick and Judy into the den of the house.

"Be careful about waving the fact that you're a cop," Nick whispered to Judy. "These guys are skittish around authority figures."

"These mammals seem a tad..." she began as she looked around and noticed the reclusive nature of the tree. The house conveyed this with old pizza boxes and Panda-La take out containers.

"Yeah, I know, but they're good mammals. They mean well."

As they entered into the main den of the tree, instead of finding the more domestic furniture one would expect, there were several networked computer workstations, servers, and high tech networking equipment scattered throughout the room. A rat's nest of ethernet cables culminated in three stations at different points of the equipment stacks, each workstation littered with empty soda and beer cans, half-eaten candy, balled-up Bugburga wrappers and a few ashtrays with crushed cigarettes.

"I was wondering when you'd get around to seeing us again, Nick," said a voice from a chair in front of one of the computers. The chair spun around to reveal a conservatively dressed koala, fur trimmed, his suit made of black linen and pressed and dry cleaned, the slight smell of starch rising from him. He conveyed a sense of bureaucracy and order; one would suspect he would be most comfortable working in a bank or some governmental agency as one of the many similarly dressed workers.

"Hello Miss...?" The koala offered his paw.

"Judy Hopps," she replied while taking the offered paw.

"Ah, pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'm John Baers. The jackal over in the corner there is Melvin, and the lanky drink of water you've already met is Tim," said the koala, pointing his free paw at each member of the group.

"Pleased to meet you," she smiled.

"So, Nick, what have you gotten yourself into this time?" asked Baers.

"Well, we have something that I think you might be able to work with. Judy might be able to explain it better."

Nick rolled over a nearby office chair for Judy to sit in. She sat in the offered chair. Baers waved his paw, ushering the other two to step in closer. Melvin sat up on the table dangling his legs, while Tim stood next to Baers, leaning against his chair's armrest. Over the next several minutes, Judy explained the harrowing events that she and Nick had survived. The trio hung on every word, and they failed to conceal their shock and disgust at her revelations. Concern soon set in when Judy explained the 'deal' they were offered in the parking lot.

"So, that's when we decided to come here," finished Judy.

"Wow," Baers said simply. The other two sat silent with blank expressions on their muzzles, still going through the description of events in their minds. The koala finally collected his thoughts after several moments.

"I'm very sorry Miss Hopps for what you went through... what you _both_ went through."

"Thank you," she replied.

"We can certainly try to access it if you wish," Baers said with an outstretched paw.

Judy carefully lifted the drive off of her neck and placed it in Baers' paw.

Baers spun around and addressed his teammates.

"Melvin, set up an insulated session. I don't want any tracking software to get out. Tim, you're on analysis, tell me what we have here."

The trio got to work on preparing their computer system for the attempt. Baers waited for each member to signal their readiness, and then he took off the cap and inserted the drive into a USB slot.

An awkward silence persisted for just a little too long before Baers brought up a terminal screen and began sending commands to the drive. After trying several commands, a plethora of output started to fill the screen.

"Woah, what do we have here?" asked Baers.

"It looks like military grade encryption," commented Melvin.

"I am seeing a very advanced cipher." stated Tim.

"My, my, what secrets do you hide, I wonder," Baers mused with a smile.

A few minutes went by, then 10, then 20. The trio tried every trick they could think of to read the drive. Judy paced back and forth, occasionally looking over Baers' shoulder to try and understand what he was doing. She mentally kicked herself for not learning more about computers in her youth. She never thought that such knowledge would be important to a police officer and their investigations, but she knew that even the ZPD had a unit dedicated to forensic analysis of computer systems. Skills she wished she had, she thought, especially at this moment. She hated the feeling of powerlessness that spread through her, but here she was, hoping that these three mammals could yield the answers that she and Nick needed.

Nick was standing over by the back patio door staring out the window. Judy could tell from the expression on his face and the furrow of fur on his brow that he was repeating events in his head; the distant stare conveyed an almost sad look about him. The rain had stopped. Drops of water pooled at the tips of the leaves and fell to the ground.

"I need to get some air, I'll be right outside," Nick said.

"Just do me a favor and don't get spotted," Baers called out over his shoulder, eyes remaining glued to the screen. "Last thing I need is SWAT kicking down my door. I just got the place how I like it."

Judy walked over to the koala and placed a paw on his shoulder.

"I want to thank you for doing this," said Judy.

"It's alright Ms. Hopps. We're glad to help out," Baers replied.

"Yeah, whoever these bastards are, we'll drag 'em into the light," shouted Melvin from behind his monitor.

"Pretty confident, isn't he?" asked Judy with a smile.

"That's Melvin, don't mind him."

Judy was about to reply when Baers spoke, turning his head slightly, yet still keeping his eyes glued to the screen.

"Actually, this decryption is going to take a while. You might want to take a load off and relax. It might be your only chance to take a breather. I don't know exactly what you have here, but it's feeling like some heavy hush-hush stuff, which means lots of security."

"Good idea," she replied. She left the room to check on Nick.

Judy tilted her head around and saw the patio door was left cracked open. She walked over to it and looked outside, seeing Nick sitting under the tree. Taking a deep breath, she went outside to see what was on the fox's mind. The leaves crunched softly under her feet, announcing her approach. Nick turned his head slightly and spoke over his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"For what?" she asked as she walked up beside him, looking up.

"I'm sorry I lied to you."

Judy put her paw on his shoulder.

"What did you lie to me about?"

Nick struggled to look her in the eyes, instead staring at his paws on the ground. "About me going back to hustling."

"Nick, you don't have to apologize to me."

"Yes I do."

Judy huffed. "And why exactly do you need to apologize?"

"Because I let you down. And I don't want you to feel ashamed of me."

"Nick," she chided. Judy stepped up onto the rock ledge that he was sitting on to get up to his eye level. Nick still averted his gaze. Judy took his head into her paws and brought his face to hers. "Nick, look at me. I'm not ashamed of you. I've seen what good you can do. I _know_ that you're good."

"But I went right back to it, Judy. I went right back to being a criminal and I didn't even think about it. It was like a reflex, going back to something familiar, something I understand," he said. "Good mammals just don't revert to scamming for money."

Judy heaved a sigh. "Listen to me, what happened was ridiculous. You were trying to do better, and they decided to take that away from you. If anything, I should be apologizing to you."

"But it's not that they took it away — it's what I did afterwards. I didn't go out and get a normal job doing something. I went back to pulling jobs. To lying."

Nick's ears drooped as he hung his head. Judy could practically feel his shame emanating from his body. She reached over and used her paw to prop up his chin, but he kept looking past her.

"Nick, dammit, look at me!"

Nick rolled his eyes back to hers.

"I am _not_ ashamed of you. You fell down, ok, so what? So do a lot of mammals. What matters is that you get back up." She placed a paw on his chest. "I know you, Nicholas Wilde. I know you have a good heart."

Before Nick could respond, Judy embraced him. Nick was stunned for a moment, smiling almost on instinct as the warmth from this small bunny's hug spread across his chest. He returned the hug, holding her softly.

"I can't do this by myself," she whispered.

"Don't sell yourself short, Carrots."

"No, Nick, I don't want to do this by myself. Because as much as I want justice, as much as I want these mammals to pay for what they did to our friends... I'm—"

"Scared?" Nick guessed.

"Yeah. Terrified."

"You're not the only one."

Judy broke the hug and she sat down beside him, leaning her head onto his arm. Nick put his arm around her to keep her warm against the cool Zootopian night.

"What are you thinking?"

"About our families. I'm worried about them getting caught up in this."

"Your mom?"

"Yeah. She's right here in Zootopia, and she's all the family I have left. Whoever these mammals are, well, if they have no qualms about what they've done so far, then my mom, your family…"

Nick trailed off, though Judy got the gist of what he was thinking.

"You think we should call my parents? Go over to your mom's house, maybe?" she asked.

"Part of me says yes, no question, let's go right now. But another part of me says no, because if we did, then these bad guys would assume we talked to them, and that would get them killed. They want us cut off."

"So… we don't say anything?"

"I think the only two mammals in anybody's sights right now are you and me. Anybody we get involved just puts them at risk."

"What about Baers, Melvin, and Tim?"

"Yeah, I already do feel bad about that. But I know they can take care of themselves. Plus, we _need_ their help."

Judy rubbed her forehead with her paw. "Oh god, what did I get us into?"

"There was no way you could have known. As far as anyone knew, you busted some camel smuggler. How could you have known he was part of something bigger?"

"It was when he said he was protected, and that he knew he was safe. There was this confident aura about him. Even when he was in pawcuffs, he knew he would be fine..." she trailed off.

Nick shifted his body and turned towards her, placing his paws on her shoulders.

"I'm proud of you, Carrots."

Judy huffed a small laugh. "Where is this coming from?"

"I just wanted to say that. I don't know if the chief, your parents, _anyone_ has been telling you. I just want you to know, even though I haven't been able to see it. I've heard the stories about you from Ben. I'm proud of you." Nick's expression softened, and he smiled warmly down at her.

Judy smiled back and felt a mote of pride from his words. Her heart fluttered and her cheeks tinged pink under her fur. She caressed his cheek.

"Thank you Nick. I'm glad you're here with me."

"I'll always be there for you Judy."

The two smiled at each other, finally finding a moment of comfort that wasn't plagued by sadness. Nick reached over and lovingly squeezed Judy's arm.

"I know we're in trouble, and on the run, but part of me wants to just sit here forever," whispered Nick.

"I know what you mean," Judy whispered back with a smile.

They heard the sound of someone pacing and of leaves crunching underfoot. Nick and Judy clutched at each other tightly. Nick's nose immediately went into the air, sniffing out who it could be. He held her protectively while he started to turn and face the sound. Baers walked up and suddenly realized he interrupted their moment.

"Oh, er, whoops. Sorry about that," said Baers as he tugged nervously at the fur on the side of head. "I didn't mean to interrupt, but we've finished the decryption and… well, you really need to see this."

Nick sighed, "Do we really need to go inside?" he asked, the frustration clear in his voice.

"Yes, we do. We have a long road ahead of us, but if we do it together, I know we can beat this." Judy offered her paw to Nick.

"Well, I certainly can't argue with that, Carrots," he said as his expression went back to a casual smile.

Nick grasped the offered paw gently as he stood up and helped her down off the log, gesturing towards the door with his other paw.

* * *

They walked inside, and Baers quickly ushered them over.

"Okay guys, I think I know the why, but moreover the who, too," he said.

Judy and Nick's ears perked up. Silence settled over the room, only interrupted by the whir of computer fans.

"Have you guys heard of the Tri-Animal Commission or the Council on Furry Relations? Even the Bilderbear group?" asked Baers.

Noticing puzzled expressions from Nick and Judy, Baers continued.

"Ah, well, without going into too much backstory, all those are fronts for a deeper, more sinister group. Have you ever heard of the Council of Five?"

Nick perked up. "Wait a sec, I've heard of that one. Those are the guys who supposedly rule the world?"

"Close. They are _trying_ to run the world, but they're not quite there yet."

"Hold up, really?" Judy asked. "That's just conspiracy nonsense, like the stuff a bunch of guys made up to sell books."

"No, they're real, and acting with intent every day. I know how it sounds, Judy, but I assure you they are real," Baers said. He began pacing around his companions as he spoke. "Now, most mammals think it's nonsense and have said a lot about those of us who have investigated them for years. We've sacrificed much, and for some of us that got too close, everything."

Judy was still having trouble believing any of this. "I don't know. I mean, how could a group of mammals do this?"

"It's actually very easy, they hide in plain sight," Baers began. "I mean, it's not like these mammals are cartoon villains twirling their mustaches or anything. These animals are usually powerful politicians, businessmammals, heads of some of the largest companies on the planet, that sort of thing. They employ groups, who in turn work with other groups and so forth.

"Oh come on," Judy shook her head and paced a couple steps. She turned back towards them, putting her paws on her hip and chuckled. "Nick, I mean, really? This is nonsense."

"Judy, Baers is serious, and I've seen enough evidence in my time to believe it."

She looked at him with incredulity. "Nick, you can't honestly take that kind of thing seriously. I've heard stories like these before, along with space aliens and mammals from Mars."

Baers stepped forward and held out a paw.

"Ms. Hopps, I assure you we have evidence to support our claims, but honestly, you don't have time for me to explain the whole of our theories. But let me use an example you might understand. During the whole Nighthowler case, when those mammals went missing? No one suspected the government. They thought it was everything from kidnappers to the mob. But no one could have guessed who was actually involved. And that included you, ma'am."

Judy didn't reply, and Baers took that as his cue to continue.

"I have a lot of respect for what you do, I used to work for the city myself. I did everything I was asked and never once questioned anything. I learned the hard way when the Nighthowler case divided the city, we all did. But the one thing about questioning things is once you start with one thing, you can't take anything for granted anymore." Baers shifted his weight and rubbed his paws together, a twinge of anxiety on his face. "So we started digging into things, anything, everything. And what we found was terrifying and unbelievable, but it explained a lot and made sense. The truth is, most mammals don't ever really know where anything comes from, they just accept it and never once look beneath the surface."

Judy nodded in acknowledgement to Baers' point. She thought back to how her beliefs changed between her moving to Zootopia and now, the harsh lessons she learned.

"Ok," she held her paws up, "I'm sorry, I'll try to keep an open mind. I should be more patient about this, especially in light of how odd it all is."

"That's all I ask Ms. Hopps," Baers replied.

"So what does the flash drive have to do with this?" asked Nick.

"Because it's a key," Melvin interrupted.

Judy and Nick turned to look at Melvin.

"A key?" they both said at the same time with equally puzzled expressions.

"This drive contains the cryptographic cipher keys to a computer database, a big one," he said with an excited grin plastered across his face. When Judy and Nick kept their puzzled looks, he explained further. "In short, this key will allow you to read the files from the computer system this thing comes from."

"And why would we want to do that?" asked Nick.

Judy thought for a moment before speaking up. "So we can have proof," she said. Puzzle pieces were starting to come together in her mind.

"Samir was into something much bigger than just drugs and guns. He must have been working for this 'Council of Five' as an agent or something. And he had this key, which gave him access to their files. Whatever these files are, they went to great pains to keep them from prying eyes," Judy said. The other mammals in the room stayed quiet, listening intently. "We can use this key to find proof. Evidence that they exist and of whatever crimes they are guilty of, including the station massacre."

"You really want to take these mammals on, Carrots?"

"Nick, I'm starting to realize we may not have a choice. We're a problem to them, and if we stand still too long, they'll find a way to get rid of us."

"What you're talking about is going to require _a lot_ of resources," Nick said. "And we aren't exactly popular right now. We have you, me, and maybe these three."

"Nick, we've got to do something. We can't just let them get away with what they've done."

"Well, I'd feel more comfortable with guns, ammo... I don't know, maybe a tank? These are the guys who wrecked the ZPD."

"Maybe an army," said a voice nearby.

Their discussion had them so focused they had not noticed that a figure had come in through the open back door. It was a fox with ruffled fur, scarring on his face, and a noticeable chunk missing from his left ear. Judy thought there was something offputting about his eyes; they were full of history and a distant pain. The rest of his garb was black. The fox's long coat bore a black patch of a stylized lion with the number 13 below the face.

The five mammals all froze at the sight of the intruder.

The fox chuckled. "You all look as though someone ran over your tails."

"Who are you, and how did you get in here?" demanded Tim. He slowly reached under his desk, pawing at a gun taped to the bottom.

The figure put a paw up calmly. "That won't be necessary. My name is Kaiden, and I have been looking for Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps," he replied. "You two are certainly hard to catch up to." His muzzle spread into a wide, toothy grin.

"What for?" asked Nick as he slowly stepped in front of Judy.

"I represent one of the last vestiges of mammals dedicated to wiping out corruption and tyranny in the world. A group not corrupted by the likes of the Council of Five, or anyone else."

"Uncorrupted? And how would you manage that?" asked Baers.

"Because nobody knows we exist," Kaiden said plainly.

"So who are you?" asked Judy, peering out from behind Nick.

"A group of fellow-minded mammals who believe in justice for all, just like you do, Officer Hopps. And we fight against those who would subvert and abuse the system for their own ends."

"You never answered her question," said Nick. His eyes narrowed at the fox.

"Quite right. We've been known by many names, but you can call us: 'Bureau 13'."


	6. Chapter 6: Puppetmaster

Chapter 6: Puppetmaster

 _Zootopia, Downtown District, 7 Months ago..._

Officer Nick Wilde was standing next to the squad car waiting for his partner Judy Hopps to come out of the station. He smiled at his reflection in the door mirror: fresh blue uniform, neatly pressed and tucked in, and his tie straight. The collar pins glistened in the sunlight with a gold shine. He was a newly minted police officer, and on the first step towards a better life for himself. Only a week out of the academy graduation, and he was already sleeping better and walking tall.

He remembered how proud Judy and his mother were at the graduation ceremony, and for the first time in his life, he felt proud of himself. The moment completed when Judy pinned the badge to his chest. He chuckled as he came back to the present. _A perchance meeting with a rabbit that would become my partner, and now my whole life has changed_ , he thought, " _A second chance at life._ "

Judy came out of the station's front door with a stack of papers tucked under her arm. She walked over to their squad car. A look of admiration flitted across her face at the sight of Nick in his police blues.

"Looks like we got our patrol assigned. Shall we go… partner?" she asked. She gave Nick a playful jab with her elbow along with an enthusiastic smile.

Nick smiled back and chuckled to himself again. "Well, we better get started. Don't want to be late on our first week."

Judy nodded. She hopped into the driver's seat while Nick rode shotgun. As she started the car, she glanced over at him, panning her eyes along his form in his fresh uniform, Nick caught her stare.

"What?" he smiled at her.

"Nothing. You just look good, like you're in the right place finally." She couldn't help but smile back. Nick Wilde, her friend and now partner, would be working with her.

"That patrol isn't going to do itself, Carrots," he winked.

Judy turned back to the steering wheel. Her ears burned slightly as he winked at her. "Right, of course."

She put the car into gear, backed out of their space, and proceeded on to their assigned route. A weasel in a nearby white sedan slinked under his window as they drove by. He didn't want them to know he'd been watching them. His cell phone rang, buzzing against the fabric of the passenger seat next to him. After swiping 'Answer' on the touch screen the call connected to his Bluetooth headset that was nestled in his ear.

"Yes?" asked the weasel.

"Did you get it?" inquired a voice on the phone.

The weasel went through a file download on his phone. It was scanned pages of text. He swiped until he got to a photo of Nick's recruitment picture.

"Yes, I'm going through it right now," he replied.

"So, how do you want to handle this? Do you think he will work with us?" asked the voice.

"I will handle this how I always do, at my own discretion. But I think Mr. Wilde can be persuaded."

"I don't need to tell you how important this is. We need someone in the police station, someone we can rely on. You told us it was this fox."

"I can assure you that Mr. Wilde is more than capable of the tasks I have in mind."

"But your own report said that he is making an effort to change his ways. Perhaps before he would have been useful, but not now? I'm not so sure." The voice was an uncomfortable mix of concern and aggression.

"It'll be alright. Everyone has a weak spot — a place they don't realize their vulnerable," the weasel said, a sinister grin forming on his lips.

"Do you think you can find it?"

"I always do. I just need to use two things, and they always work."

"And they are?"

"The right kind of pressure… and timing."

The weasel started his car and followed the pair's squad car from a safe distance.

Judy and Nick were following their patrol route, eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary, although they didn't expect anyone to be foolish enough to try something in their presence. They listened to the radio chatter in case of an emergency.

"So, this is it, huh?" asked Nick. He tapped his knee with a finger, feigning boredom, though his smile was betraying his excitement.

"Oh, don't worry, it's still early morning. Even criminals have to get morning coffee," said Judy.

Just as Judy predicted, several calls came in over the course of their morning, although it wasn't the excitement Nick was hoping for. A few suspicious mammal reports and pickpockets, not the car chases and robberies Nick grew up watching on cop television dramas. They both understood that they had a lot to prove still in the eyes of the other officers, especially if they hoped to be seen as equals. Judy's boundless enthusiasm and empathy inspired Nick to be steadfast and patient.

Traffic stops seemed to be the majority of their activity that morning. The everyday violators that gave the job its monotony would make them wish someone would have the gall to try and run.

As it got toward mid-day, Nick suggested to have lunch at the sandwich place that was near the end of their patrol route. It was your standard fare of chain sandwich shops, a popular destination for the employed. Business casual seemed to be the common dress for the area, but the occasional white shirt and tie would walk in, order their food and depart with the same haste. Nick wasn't sure if it was because a pair of police officers walked in or because of specifically whom, but the eyes of the mammals in the shop did turn their attention towards them, and the shop quieted when they entered. It wasn't until after the sandwich mammal had rung them up, wrapped up their meals and placed them into plastic bags that the store resumed its normal volume. Nick was used to hushed tones and whispers, but this time it was different. It wasn't from a point of suspiciousness or concern but from reverent respect.

 _Maybe it was just the badge,_ he thought as he paid for their lunch.

As he led Judy over to the nearby window table, he noticed that she didn't seem to respond to what just happened. Either she didn't notice or just didn't care to remark, he wasn't sure. She seemed happy enough as they sat down across from each other, unwrapping her dutifully prepared sandwich. Nick concluded that perhaps he was overthinking it and decided to just enjoy things as they come, as Judy seemed to be.

At least he was able to get a window table. He knew that Judy still marveled at all the mammals in the city, of all different sizes and shapes. And Nick knew that she loved to watch mammals just going about their lives. The buzzing activity that Nick often took for granted was still so new to her.

" _A good view, a good meal and good company. Enjoy yourself, Wilde,_ " he reminded himself as he started to unwrap his sandwich.

Nearby and across the street parked on the curb was a white sedan. The weasel inside who had been following and observing them had set a small device against the dash of the car and pointed it towards Judy and Nick. After putting on a pair of headphones, he connected them to the device. The device was a laser microphone, and he adjusted the box until it was aligned and he could hear their conversation as well.

"So, what do you think of your first day so far?" asked Judy.

"It's not entirely what I was expecting," Nick replied.

"Let me guess, you thought it was going to be non-stop chasing bad guys and kicking butt, right?" she asked before taking a bite of her lunch.

"Yeah, I guess. I wasn't sure what I was expecting really… But I'm glad to be finally here," Nick smiled.

"I'm glad. To be honest, I wouldn't be as uh…..enthusiastic if it was anyone else."

Judy and Nick continued their lunch. Nick would say something funny, and Judy would laugh, placing her paw in front of her face to keep from accidentally spitting sandwich crumbs everywhere.

The weasel was observing the entire interaction and making notes on a yellow notepad. On it were comments about Nick's personality and summaries of the key pieces from his file that the weasel read. He had written 'Money? Ideology? Compromise? Ego?' but none of those applied. He scratched them all out with the pen.

As the weasel kept watching them he finally understood; Nick's clear affinity for Judy, the way they spoke to and looked at each other. "So, that's how it is," the weasel whispered to himself, a sinister grin growing on his face as his thoughts formed into a plan of action. Looking down at the pad of paper he wrote 'Judy Hopps' and circled it.

The weasel placed a phone call to 'the voice' from before.

"This is him," said the voice.

"I need more information. Everything you know about Officer Judy Hopps, psychological profile too. I have an idea."

* * *

 _A week later…_

Nick was enjoying his day off when he decided to go to one of his old haunts, a bar on the north side of Sahara Square near the train station. He'd already texted Finnick and was waiting for him to show up and hang out like old times. He hadn't seen Finnick since he'd joined the academy; Finnick was still working cons and pulling jobs.

Nick's chief worry was to not bring any attention to him, or worse, be put in a position where he would be expected to arrest him. Though he tried to convince Finnick to turn over his own new leaf, the fennec seemed to be happy where he was.

Nick was taking his time in the bar, having a drink, checking his phone, updating his status on social media, and checking text messages from Judy. He was lost in thought and in his phone, not noticing when a red-haired middle-aged marten took up residence on the stool next to him.

The marten ordered his drink, to which the bartender grabbed an ice cold mug from the nearby refrigerator and tilted the tap on one of the bar's ales, filling the mug. He placed the frothy glass on a bar napkin and handed it to him. The marten picked it up and took a refreshing swig of the cold beer.

"Mmm, tastes refreshing, don't it?" the marten asked in Nick's direction.

Nick looked up from his phone and looked around, then at the marten.

"You talkin' to me?" asked Nick, pointing a paw at his chest.

"Oh yes, m'boy, I said it tastes refreshing, doesn't it?" he asked again, this time pointing to the beer.

"It's good, I guess."

"Well, it's funny though. How something that tastes so good be bad for you?" the marten asked, taking another drink.

Unease started to swell in Nick's chest. There was something about the marten next to him that made him anxious, enough to where the hairs on his hackles were brushing against the collar of his shirt. He scooted his bar stool away from the marten by a few inches to give himself space.

"Yet the funny thing is if it's bad for you, then why do mammals drink it? Because it feels good — feels right. But does that make it good? Or is it just bad disguised as a good thing?"

Nick was beginning to understand the metaphor, which only served to annoy him further. He turned to the marten.

"What's your point?" Nick asked.

"What I'm saying, m'boy, is that we can convince ourselves that something _is_ what it _isn't_ , but it doesn't change the facts about it. Just because we say we are good, doesn't change the fact we were made bad." The marten smiled.

"What the hell do you want?"

"To offer you a job, m'boy."

"I don't do that anymore."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. I've moved on from that life. I've got a better one now."

"Better really? How so?"

"That's none of your damn business."

"Well, it must pay better than what I'm offering," the marten replied just as he placed the mug to his lips again.

"I don't care." Nick's tone audibly changed. His hackles stood on edge, and his upper lip started to curl instinctively.

"Ya know, it's a funny thing about the world. There are those of us who so desperately want to make things better, yet they don't even know how to start."

"Who the hell are you?"

"Who am I? The question 'Who?' follows the function of what, and what I am is a messenger, an inquisitor of sorts." The marten played innocent, and gestured with his paw toward his chest.

"You still didn't answer my question."

"To wit, and true, but why should I tell you? It gains you nothing but puts me at a disadvantage, because words have meaning and names have power. If I told you my name is Roger Connors, what does that get you?" the marten said while waxing poetic, as if playing with Nick.

Nick was not pleased and certainly didn't like being toyed with. "It'll be the name I put on my police report when I arrest you."

The marten guffawed out loud. "For what, dear kit? Sitting here in this establishment and enjoying a cold refreshment with my fellow blue collar citizens? What crime is there in that? And moreover, on what authority do you claim to have over me, as but a fellow citizen?"

"I am a cop, actually," Nick said.

The marten locked his gaze with the fox and placed a folder down on the bartop. His jovial bearing and tone shifted and became darker. A chill ran up Nick's spine.

"No, you are not," he whispered.

Nick looked down at the folder and opened it. Inside were documents detailing his criminal record. There was an old photograph of him from almost a decade ago inside staring back at him. He looked back at the marten, who had slid closer until their muzzles nearly touched.

"And you seem to have forgotten that, Nick Wilde. You forgot who you really are, masquerading around as some champion of truth and justice, when in reality you're just a lie. A fraud. The same corrupting influence the rabbit professes against."

Nick restrained himself from drawing his claws. His lips pursed into a snarl and he pushed the marten back in his stool with his paw. "You leave her out of this," he hissed.

"Then take my offer. Besides, working with me, you will change the world in a much more fundamental way than you ever would as a lowly police officer," the marten said.

"Fuck you." Nick stood up and put money on the bar to cover his tab.

As Nick began to walk away the marten grabbed his arm, looking up right into his eyes.

"You will come to see things more clearly, Nick... Eventually."

"You want to keep that paw?" Nick growled, glancing at the marten's paw on his arm.

The marten reluctantly released Nick's arm and let him leave.

"You'll only hurt yourself, m'boy. You'll only hurt yourself."

The marten was finishing his mug and requested another one when a short tan fox walked into the bar. He swirled the beer around in his mug, paying careful attention to every patron that was present. The small fox went up to the bartender at the other end of the bar.

"Hey, Gary. You seen Nick? He told me he was coming here," the small fox said in a deep voice.

"He was here a while ago," the bartender replied. "Don't know where he went off to."

"Thanks, Gary."

The small fox was turning to leave when the marten turned to him.

"Are you a friend to Nick Wilde, young squire?" asked the marten, a sly smile on his lips.

The small fox came up to the marten and looked up. "The fuck's a squire? You talkin' to me?"

The marten nodded and patted the seat next to him. "What's your name, m'boy?" he asked.

The small fox walked up to the marten. "The name's Finnick."

The marten chuckled lightly, as if arriving upon a jackpot of circumstance. He drank the last of his beer, setting the now empty mug on the bar.

"Would you be interested in a job, m'boy?"

"I'm always interested, but not from mammals I don't know," Finnick replied as he turned to leave.

"Oh come now Finnick, don't pretend that the large paycheck I'm offering doesn't interest you."

"Not interested," Finnick said over his shoulder as he walked toward the door.

"Fine, if money is not the answer, what about loyalty to your friends?"

Finnick stopped in his tracks and spun around; one of his ears flickered and a stern expression came over him. He walked back over with a more stern gait.

"I don't know you, I don't know what you are, and you're not my friend," he said while he wagged a finger at the marten.

"My name is Roger Connors and I wasn't talking about me. I was talking about Nick," he replied.

"You know Nick? Strange, cuz' I've never heard him mention you," Finnick said as he flashed a grin, thinking he caught him in a lie.

"As Nick would say, 'I know everybody'. But he and I know each other through family. You could call it a _big_ family, if you know what I mean," Roger replied with a slick grin growing on his lips.

"So, that's how it is. Mr. B finally making good on his threat?"

"No actually. I haven't worked for Big in years, but I did want to talk to Nick. Not to hurt him, but to help him."

"Really? Seems to me Nick doesn't need any help, he's turning his life around," Finnick replied as he crossed his arms.

Roger swiveled on his stool and looked down at the fox. "Right, and how many times have you seen Nick try to 'turn his life around' only to see him sabotage it? This makes it what, three times now?"

Finnick's dismissive expression and tone drained away, replaced by a sense of intrigue and a raised eyebrow. He clambered up onto the bar stool and took a seat. "Yeah, and what do _you_ know about that?"

"I know more than you assume, and I'm not just random stranger."

"Well, I want to know if you're full of it or not. So tell me, what do you know? And maybe we can talk if I like your answer."

"Fine, I accept those terms. We both know Nick has a problem with commitment to anyone but himself. Twice now he found himself in a better life, and twice he betrayed them."

"Go on."

"Well, if you're really trying to test my knowledge, let's not talk about how Nick betrayed Mr. Big. I think a lot of mammals know about that story and the skunk rug. Let's talk about the first time Nick stabbed someone in the back, the first time he betrayed those who tried to save him. What was that young vulpine couple's name, Locksley?" Roger asked.

Finnick's demeanor changed again; the mention of that name made him almost betray his thoughts, but the fact this marten knew the name, let alone the events, resonated with him.

"Here was a couple that wanted to 'save' Nick, that wanted to give him the love, attention and validation that he so desired. You remember Finnick, that nice young couple with a daughter, willing to adopt him as a son, creating a nice little family. And it was good for a while, but what did he do? What he always does: something in his mind just decided that he couldn't be there anymore, and he betrayed them. Going so far as to convince the daughter to help him get her mother's jewelry, robbing from a loving family, from mammals that came to trust him. Now, even to a mammal like me, that's cold."

"How do you know this?" Finnick asked.

"Because Nick told me, years ago, back when I worked for Koslov, before he got 'absorbed' by Mr Big. That's why when I heard that Nick betrayed Big, I wasn't surprised. It was the Locksleys all over again, yet another family that was willing to take him in. To love him and take care of him, and yet again, he got too comfortable and betrayed them."

Finnick sighed. "Fine, I agree that Nick's got some issues, I get that. And yeah, I do feel bad when he does it because I know he's good fox, and why he does it is a mystery. Maybe deep down he feels he doesn't deserve it. I wouldn't tell you, I'm not a shrink. But what does that have to do with now? And what does it have to do with me?"

"Because he's going to do it again Finnick. Mark my words, he _will_ do it again," Roger said plainly.

"I don't think you give him or Judy enough credit. This time it's different, this time he really wants this," Finnick fired back.

"Just like he wanted it before? Just like he's _tried_ to before?"

Finnick didn't respond, sitting silently and twiddling his paws.

"I hope I'm wrong, I really do, but if I'm not, what do you think is going to happen? If he betrays the police department, he'll be a fugitive, and they _will_ run him into the ground."

"He won't do that, I know he won't," Finnick said while he shook his head.

"You willing to bet his life on that?"

Finnick opened his mouth to answer but hesitated; he wanted to be sure, he wanted to tell this marten he was wrong, but he knew Nick's history first paw. Nick would do these things, and Finnick knew that it would always come with more pain afterwards.

"Exactly," Roger responded, taking note of Finnick's hesitation. "I'm not asking you to do anything to hurt your friend. And if I'm wrong, Nick never needs to know this. But if I am right, then you need to be there like you always do to catch him from his fall."

"I always do. We've been running together for a long time. I know we've had our ups and downs but he's the closest thing to family I got, and I know I'm the same to him," replied Finnick.

"And you're a good friend, brother, and fellow fox for doing so." Roger complimented.

"So why do I need you?"

"Because I want to give you both an opportunity, a chance to finally get out of this life. To get a big pay day and never look back. And in Nick's case, have enough money to finally carve out some kind of happiness that he so richly needs." Roger shifted in his chair and got closer to Finnick. "Do you remember when Mr. Big took over Koslov's businesses?"

"I wasn't involved with Mr. Big. Heck, even Nick really wasn't, he was just there."

"Still though, when Mr. Big took over Koslov's empire, he iced a lot of mammals that worked for the bear. And it was Nick who convinced Big to spare the rest of us. Nick did me a kindness without ever seeing my face. He saved my life, and now I wish to return the favor."

"To save his life?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes. I think in many ways, out of all the cons that Nick has conjured up, it's the ones that he tells himself that I think are the most painful. I don't pretend to know what it is, or why, I just know that it always hurts him. Which is why I want to do this."

Finnick sat on his stool and pondered the marten's words. He felt several conflicting feelings that gave him a small knot in the pit of his stomach. The marten saw this and added to his request.

"If I'm wrong Finnick, then I'll consider the debt paid and wish him well on his happy life. But, 'what if' right?"

After several moments of thinking on the issue, Finnick came to a decision.

"Ok, what do you want me to do?" asked Finnick.

"Relax young squire, everything will be alright," replied the marten with a smile on his lips.

* * *

 _3 Weeks Later…_

Judy and Nick were out on patrol. It was an idyllic day; the sun was shining, and there was not a cloud in the sky. Despite the sun, it was mild enough where they had the windows down to enjoy the breeze as their car travelled through the city. They'd fallen into a rhythm of their route and were growing more accustomed to it every day. They had had their first chase together earlier in the week, and were still riding high from their achievement. Judy decided to let Nick drive as they cruised around in the squad car.

"Car 23, Car 23, come in. What's your 20, over?" squawked the radio.

Judy grabbed the radio mic, clicking the button on the side.

"20 is Sahara Square, over?"

"Chief requests 10-19, over," said dispatch.

Nick gave Judy a puzzled look. He still hadn't memorized all of the 10 codes.

"What's that?" Nick whispered.

"Return to station," she replied.

"And that's on the double, over."

"10-4," Judy acknowledged.

They sat in silence for a moment, pondering what could need their personal attention.

"I wonder what this is about?" Nick asked.

She shrugged. "No idea. Maybe a new case?"

Nick turned the car around and headed back to the ZPD. He parked the squad car into their assigned space and they both got out, walking through the glass front doors of the precinct. As they passed the front desk, the nearby desk sergeant flagged them down.

"Hey, guys. You're to report to the chief as soon as he's done with the commissioner."

"What happened?" asked Judy.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it involved a lot of yelling," replied the desk sergeant.

Judy and Nick walked over to the waiting chairs outside of Bogo's office. The desk sergeant was right, there was a lot of yelling between Bogo and another voice. The blinds to the chief's office were closed, but they could tell the other voice was doing most of the talking. Bogo's assistant, an older ewe who clearly did only administrative work, got up from her desk. She waited for a break in the conversation to knock on the door and opened it just enough to speak through.

"Excuse me, sirs, but they're here."

"Get 'em in here!" yelled the commissioner.

The assistant ushered them into the office and closed the door behind them. They could feel the heat of yelling and muted anger from the intense discussion that permeated the room. The pair stood in front of the desk at attention, with as blank expressions as they could muster.

The lion commissioner took a breath to calm down and spoke.

"You know, I could have your badge for this too, Bogo."

"I understand sir, and if you feel that's necessary—" Bogo started.

"Shut it. We'll finish our conversation later. Just get it over with," the commissioner interrupted.

"Officers Wilde and Hopps, this is Commissioner O'Donnell. An… improper circumstance has come to his attention."

Nick and Judy looked at Bogo with concern and confusion painted across their muzzles. Bogo sighed.

"Nick Wilde, it has come to the attention of the commissioner's office that you in fact have a previous criminal record, and as such, bars you from participating in police service."

Nick and Judy could hear the defeat in Bogo's voice, as if he was reading a prepared statement he did _not_ want to give. Nick's eyes went wide, his chest feeling as if it was being crushed by a boulder. Judy was shocked.

"The truth is, I was aware of your record but I accepted your application anyway. I felt that your help on the savage case and what you did for Officer Hopps showed me more of your integrity than your previous record. She convinced me and I looked past it. But it seems the commission, now that they are aware of the situation, feels that I was 'reckless and irresponsible.'"

Bogo knelt down to their level and spoke with a more sincere tone, "I'm sorry this happened, but it's my fault, not yours. I don't want this but I have to. I need..." Bogo grimaced as he tried to say the words. It pained him as much to say them as it did for Nick and Judy to hear them.

"I need you to give me your badge."

Nick visage shattered like a mirror, and Bogo's words were the hammer. He clutched his badge, and his tail and ears drooped. Judy came out of her shock and placed a paw on his shoulder.

"There has to be something you can do, sir," she pleaded.

"You need to keep your trap shut, Hopps. I could have your badge as well, considering all the laws and statutes you broke during your civilian investigation of the missing mammals case. Don't think we haven't forgotten about that little cowboy stunt of yours," O'Donnell snapped at her.

Nick broke out of his funk and pleaded, "No, she had nothing to do with it sir. Please don't take it out on her."

O'Donnell leaned down and stared Nick in the face, as if putting him under a very uncomfortable microscope. Nick could feel the fire of his anger through his gaze.

"Now you listen here, you stupid fox. I should throw you in prison for what you've done. A criminal in the ZPD? Do you know where applications for the department go if they have any sort of criminal history?"

Nick shook his head.

"The fucking garbage, that's where. This is all public record, and no citizen wants to be protected by an ex-con. Honestly, I should punish all three of you. The reason I don't is because I don't want to deal with the media circus that would result. The news would have a fucking field day, asking questions I don't want to answer. So, for the sake of not embarrassing us all with your antics, I'm not going to prosecute you. I'm not even going to punish Hopps and Bogo. But I want _you_ gone, and I mean immediately!"

O'Donnell stood back up and fixed his tie while Bogo stood up placed himself between the lion and his officers. "I think he gets the point sir. There isn't any need to be cruel."

"Really? You don't see a need? The fact that you all have grossly violated not only department policy but the law, and for who, just some fox, and you don't see the _need_?" yelled O'Donnell, trying hard to not lose his already heated temper again.

"He is not just 'some fox'. He was instrumental in solving one of the biggest cases in history and prevented a massive government conspiracy," replied Bogo, levying a pointed hoof at the commissioner.

The commissioner stepped up to Bogo, muzzle to muzzle, his teeth showing as his lips curled in anger. As furious as he was he still tried to keep his voice from carrying beyond the walls of the office. "That doesn't change the fact that _he_ is a convicted criminal. Doesn't change that she knew that and helped him anyway, and definitely doesn't change that _you_ covered for them. Do you have _any_ idea what position that puts me in? The commission? The whole fucking department? All because you had a soft spot for some fucking vulpine."

O'Donnell stepped back and ran a paw through his mane to straighten it, the sweat from his rage causing it to drape uncomfortably into his eyes. After fixing his fur he regained his composure and took a deep breath.

"You fucked up, Bogo, and now it's time to take your lumps. But keep in mind, if you decide to make an issue of this, I will find the deepest hole I can find and put him in it, and Hopps won't even be able to get a job as a mall cop. And you? You will find your new home working with Clawhauser in the mail room. Now, are you going to do what you need to do?"

Bogo stood silent. He was angry, but he knew O'Donnell had them all dead to rights. He was torn between his loyalty to his officers and his oath to uphold the law. The two large mammals had locked gazes so intently that neither of them noticed that Nick had walked up to Bogo's side.

"Chief," Nick said as he tapped the bovine's arm.

Bogo turned and looked down at Nick, seeing the sadness in the fox's eyes and an outstretched paw holding his badge and tranquilizer gun.

"Wilde?" Bogo asked.

"It's not worth it. Just take them, please," Nick pleaded as he grabbed Bogo's hoof, placed the badge and gun in it and wrapped his fingers around them.

No more words were said as he went to the door; the sudden shift from the energetic room now bleeding into eerie pregnant pause was jarring, and Bogo's office felt like a cage that Nick had to escape from. He opened the door, the squeak of the hinge and the outside light that spilled in through the doorway giving an odd sense of finality. He looked back at Judy, locking eyes with her. He didn't need to be a mind reader to know what she was thinking: 'Why? Why was this happening?'. An intense knot of anxiety weighed in his stomach as he thought, ' _This is unfair, I'm trying to do good now_ '.

Nick went to the locker room and changed out of his uniform and into his street clothes. An almost Herculean effort to not succumb to his sadness and tears in front of the other officers in the room. He focused to hang the uniform neatly on the hanger inside. He grabbed the picture of Judy, his mother and him that was taken at his graduation and stuffed it in his shirt pocket. Nick closed the locker door and started to leave police station.

By the time Judy was dismissed from Bogo's office and allowed to catch up to Nick he had already managed to get into his tan LeBaron and start the car.

"Nick!" she called out.

She saw him tilt his head up and look right at her. She could see that his eyes were filled with tears, a single drop falling from his muzzle.

"Nick, wait a minute!" she called out again, running towards the car as he backed out.

He shook his head, mouthing words she couldn't make out, but he clearly couldn't bear to look at her.

"Nick wait, please come… back," she said, jogging after his car but coming to a stop as he sped away.

As she watched his car disappear from view, her nose twitched sadly, her face trembled and her own tears begun to run.

* * *

 _Later…_

In an expensive flat in the city center, the venetian blinds were partially opened, cutting a series of lines from across the room as the sunlight spilled through them. Nearby on a vanity table was a mirror with a multitude of different cosmetic prosthetics, fur dyes, wigs and extensions. They were divided into two clear sets: one with the label "marten" and the other with the label "ferret." Each set was neatly organized, each piece in its assigned place.

There was a figure, a weasel, sitting in the chair by the window, pensively thinking as if waiting for something. The buzz of a phone's vibration reverberated in the quiet apartment, the phone itself sitting under the weasel's right paw. He swiped its face to answer and placed it to his ear.

"Yes?" the weasel answered.

"Is this Sid Ridgeway?" asked the voice on the phone.

"Is it done?" replied Sid.

"Yes. I did what you asked. I took the folder directly to the commissioner's office."

"And?"

"And I just heard that the fox was fired. Now please, tell your goons to let my wife go," pleaded the voice on the phone.

"You've kept your end of the bargain, and as promised I shall reunite you with your wife. I always keep my promises. My men shall be there shortly," Sid responded.

Sid hung up and immediately dialed a new number. After a single ring, the call was answered.

"Our friend in the commissioner's office has performed his task, and he has served his purpose. Dispose of the bodies in the usual way, thank you," ordered Sid.

Sid hung up the phone again and let it sit on his chair's arm, holding his paw over it, as if waiting for it to ring. After about half a minute it rang.

"This is Ridgeway," Sid answered.

"What the hell happened? We just heard that the asset is spoiled. Has he really been terminated from his position?"

"Yes he has, and before you ask, yes, I am responsible," replied Sid.

"What? Why! We needed that asset in the ZPD!"

"I have determined that Nick Wilde's value can far extend beyond a simple operative. His skills and intelligence make for prime material to be made a full-fledged agent of the organization. Maybe even something the benefactors could consider for our future plans. It will require playing the long game; Nick still believes he is something that he is not, and it will take some time to bring him around to our way of thinking. Just let our benefactors know that yes, while it is a gamble, I think it could be a great boon to our organization," Sid said.

"I sense a catch," said the voice.

"Yes. We will have to remove one obstacle. Part of his reluctance to embrace his true self is because of his affinity for this Judy Hopps," replied Sid.

"So what are planning to do?" the voice asked.

"Simple… remove the obstacle."

Sid hung up the phone and looked through the blinds at the city outside. He smiled sinisterly and let out a soft but chilling laugh.


	7. Chapter 7: Bureau 13

Chapter 7: Bureau 13

 _Zootopia, Present day, Shortly after leaving the trio's house..._

A black van drove to the outskirts of the Rainforest District. Near the mountain passes, the sight of walking paths, rope bridges and flat roads gave way to steeper inclines and stairways. The road would dip and rise as they went over the smaller hills. They reached an area where the brush was minimally maintained. No one had lived in this area for some time, and the overgrowth had started to reclaim the structures.

Inside the van, Kaiden was conversing with Nick and Judy, the van itself being driven by a wolf. He was tall, muscular, and his tan almost blonde coat was clean and neat which juxtaposed with his own set of scars and markings that revealed a rough and hard path similar to Kaiden's. The wolf was concentrating on driving but would occasionally glance in the direction of his comrade through the rearview mirror to acknowledge parts of the conversation.

"So, I guess first off is introductions. Judy, Nick, my name is Kaiden, and my wolf compatriot here is Kit. Kit, this is Nick and Judy, the unlucky pair who got involved."

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance. Sorry that it had to be under such unfortunate circumstances," Kit replied, using his right paw to do a two-fingered salute and nod before placing his paw back on the wheel.

"Are John and the others going to be alright?" Judy asked.

"They should be fine, but I'm having someone watch them to make sure," replied Kaiden.

"I'm sorry, but I have a concern. Where are you taking us exactly?" Nick asked.

"To Bureau 13. We keep it off the grid and away from prying eyes, for obvious reasons."

"No I don't think it's that obvious, I would very much like an explanation," Nick insisted.

"Bureau 13 is an...independent organization, and before you ask, yes it's legal...ish. It was set up a long time ago by a very brave group of mammals who just wanted to protect the world," Kaiden explained.

Nick didn't reply instead he noticed that Kaiden hadn't taken off his coat even when they had entered the van, and that the fox was in fact covered from head to toe with thick clothing except for his head and paws. His paws, however, weren't normal and fur covered.

"So, you going to tell me what's up with you or should I just ask point blank? What's up with your paws?" Nick asked while pointing at Kaiden's paws.

Judy smacked him. "Don't ask that, it's rude." Judy turned to Kaiden, embarrassed. "You'll have to forgive him, he can be a bit… blunt."

"You mean you noticed, and didn't say anything?"

Judy smiled nervously rather than answer the question.

"It's alright, I was going to explain anyway," Kaiden replied, holding up his paw.

He rolled up the sleeve to his arm and revealed that it was not a normal mammalian arm. It was a metallic appendage resembling a mammalian arm, specifically a fox's. The arm was covered in several shaped plates, coverings and seams running along its length. It reminded Nick of some of the medieval armors of old he had seen in the Natural History Museum. Judy marveled at it, almost wanting to reach out and touch it.

Kaiden picked up on her curiosity and held out his paw for her to see more closely. She grasped the paw in hers and felt it. It was cold, the paw pads having a rough texture.

"Bureau 13 is comprised of an all-volunteer force. A lot of us signed on because the council of five have gotten involved in our lives for one reason or another," Kaiden said, shooting a glance up to Kit, who at the same time glanced in the rearview back at Kaiden, acknowledging the statement. "Many of us have seen a lot of combat and became seriously injured, some catastrophically so. B13 used modern medical science to give us back what regular doctors couldn't."

"But that's impossible," said Nick.

Kaiden raised an eyebrow, as if puzzled. "How? I'm sitting right here."

"Because I've seen mammals injured, even handicapped ones, and I've never seen anyone walking around with what you have," Nick responded.

"True, but let me ask you this. The technology you have in, say, your smartphone. You think that is state of the art?" Kaiden replied, pointing at Nick.

"I think those are two different things."

"When it comes to the government, at least the classified stuff, they are at least 10 years ahead, maybe more depending on what you're talking about. So the stuff that you see filtering down to the consumer level is old technology. The public thinks it's new, but for many of us, we've had it for awhile."

Kaiden held up his paw so that Nick could clearly see it. "So, what you're seeing here is technology that you won't see 'walking around' for at least 10 years. Of course, I will admit, even our augments are advanced for the technology, such as combat chassis, and high speed servos."

Kaiden rolled his sleeve back down, shifting his weight so he could look forward.

"You'll get used to seeing it around the compound. When we are out and about we try to maintain the sense of still being natural with a lot of clothes covering our enhancements, and even fake fur coverings when needed. But many of us find that uncomfortable, so at the base we generally wear normal clothes. So fair warning."

"Oh don't worry, everything will be fine," Judy replied while she gripped Nick's snout to keep him from offering any more commentary.

"We're here," Kit called out over his shoulder as he pulled into a covered parking area.

The group left the van and entered the small structure in front of them, which was made to look like a natural formation. an old workshop embedded into a large tree. Wisps of branches snaking in different directions, the workshop itself looked abandoned, the items inside covered with thick sheets of dust and cobwebs. They walked inside, their paws making soft rattles on the loose floorboards as they went to the very back wall and stood in front it. Kaiden opened what appeared to be a rust-covered fusebox, however inside wasn't a smattering of fuses but a keypad, and unlike its facade it was modern and new. Kaiden typed on the pad and a distant vibration started. After several moments, the wall in front of them opened, revealing an elevator.

"Don't expect much, it's a concrete bunker with carpet," said Kaiden as they walked into the enclosed space

As they were descending, Judy and Nick's ears popped, telling them they had gone deep underground. The elevator stopped and opened out into a small hallway. Gray concrete lined the walls with occasional set of bolts sticking out at the joining corners and supports. Other than the bolts the walls were flat and featureless, the corners at sharp 90 degree angles.

They approached the security checkpoint; Kaiden looked into the nearby scanner, scanning his eyes. The attached display flashed green and "Access Granted" appeared as the door's lock hissed and opened.

"Go on in sir, Talmadge is expecting you," said the guard.

Judy noticed as she was passing the guard that his eyes aren't natural either. She could see what looked like lines on the tiger's irises, resembling that of a camera's eye. The group walked into the main hallway. Kaiden had not understated, it was just a concrete bunker with carpet added, the occasional piece of generic office art hanging on the wall. The furniture was just as standard. Potted plants dotted the area, which upon inspection were at least real. Small glass bulbs filled with water were stuck in the potting soil to keep them watered. With the exception of the walls being made of blast resistant concrete, Nick and Judy could have been walking through any office building in downtown Zootopia.

They arrived at a five way intersection, color coded stripes of different colors running along the walls.

"So down that way are guest quarters, each of you will be assigned one, and guest support services. That way is operations and offices, that way is medical and labs, and that way is personnel support, B13 agent quarters, barracks, breakroom, kitchen, training rooms, hell, I think even the janitor's office is down that way. Just follow the colored signs and lines to wherever you want to go. Purple, gold, blue and red, respectively."

Kit broke off from the group to check in, while Kaiden led the pair down the hallway with the gold stripe along the wall. They passed a series of large windows that looked into open space with monitors and desks, computer workstations with different mammals working at them. The words 'Operation Support' were written large on a sign above the double door leading inside. Judy marveled at the organization they had, reminding her of the ZPD. They arrived at a closed office door, the words "Director Christopher Talmadge" printed on a name plaque next to it. Kaiden softly rapped on the door with his paw. The occupant waved him in and they proceeded inside. The director was a raccoon in a grey business suit, a small crimson-colored tie being the only flair of color on him. He was clearly flustered by the conversation he was having on the phone.

"No, I assure you Senator that the assault on the police station was not 'just a terrorist attack'," said the raccoon in a deep baritone voice. "A proper investigation _is_ being conducted, my agents are already bringing in witnesses to the event… Yes there were survivors of the incident… I wouldn't recommend making any statements publically until a proper, independent investigation has been completed… Yes, sir… Of course, you can count on our discretion… Goodbye."

The raccoon slapped down the receiver, "Idiot," he muttered to himself.

Kaiden cleared his throat loud enough to remind Talmadge that he wasn't alone. He looked up and snapped out of his thoughts, presenting a smile.

"My apologies, the senator can be a bit… trying at times," he explained as the raccoon stepped off his chair and came down to address the two.

"So, you're the pair that managed to escape the attack," he said as he gave Nick and Judy a look over. "You two are lucky, when 'The Fiends' have a target, they very rarely leave any witnesses. I'll take that as a sign of good fortune for us."

"Christopher Talmadge," he greeted, offering his paw to Judy.

"Judy Hopps." "Nick Wilde." they both replied as the racoon took turns shaking each of their paws.

"Kaiden, please make them feel at home. They are going to be here a while," Talmadge said as he looked up at the fox agent.

"Already working on it, sir." The fox nodded, still standing at attention.

"At ease… Please, you don't need to stand on ceremony with me, we've talked about this," he said, and with a wave of his paw the fox's posture relaxed.

"Kaiden is former military, and naturally, he feels a need to have a certain formality. I on the other paw come from intelligence and civilian work, so I never was used to that sort of thing."

"Just giving you the respect you deserve, sir," Kaiden responded.

"I understand, but it's not necessary," He replied before turning his attention back to Judy and Nick.

"You see, the agents here have been through alot, and I personally don't like to put them under any more strain than they otherwise already are. I've told them many times that they don't need to stand on formality with me, but, well, old habits and all," Talmadge said with a light smile. "Now, what is this I hear about a key, a flash drive?" he inquired.

Judy explained her side of events, how she came into possession of the flash drive, and how the trio figured out it was a key for the Council of Five. Nick could see that explaining the story yet again was tiring her especially when she would describe the events in the police station. But she dutifully reported the details leaving nothing out. When she finished, Talmadge simply nodded, not surprised by the atrocity.

"Firstly, I want to say that, you have my condolences and I apologize you have been caught up in this. And if it's alright with you I would like to have our analysts take a look at the drive."

"Of course," she replied.

"Thank you for coming here and for your trust." he said as he placed a paw on her shoulder.

"Your welcome," she replied softly as a pained expression crossed her face, thinking about her friends.

Kaiden walked them out and escorted them to the operations center. Walking past the many technicians, they found themselves at a peculiar one, a very nerdy and energetic squirrel. His workstation was an example of organized chaos, populated by math matrices, comic book pin-ups, a few posed action figures, empty energy drink cans, and half-eaten microwave pastry pockets. The squirrel was muttering incomprehensibly at high speed to himself.

"Sector 6 to 80 copy the 6th, the 7th, the 8th quadrant of the 9th plus 84 circles abbreviated," was the only words that the three managed to understand, as his eyes darted between the three screens of his workstation, his paws frantically typing to the point of being a blur.

"Hamilton, can you come down to our level for a minute?" asked Kaiden as he held up his paws.

"I told you to call me Hamilton, Kaiden," he said, still fixated on his work.

"I did, I know you hate the name 'Hammy'," Kaiden pointed out.

The squirrel looked up and mulled over the words the fox spoke. "Oh, you're right, you did… That means you want something… very busy, very busy," muttered the squirrel.

"I have something new for you to play with. This one's a challenge," Kaiden smiled passively.

"Oh?" The squirrel's interest piqued as he tapped his chin with his finger.

"This nice rabbit here has it."

Judy took out the flash drive and offered it to the squirrel. He was at first apprehensive because Judy was a stranger. Seeing this, Judy introduced herself.

"Hi, my name is Judy. What's yours?" she asked sweetly.

"I'm… Hamilton. Sometimes they call me Hammy… but I don't like it," he replied, a hint of nervousness and a stutter in his voice.

"I'll call you Hamilton then," she smiled softly.

Hamilton reached out and grabbed the flash drive and looked it over, flipping it around in his paws before plugging it into his machine.

"I'll do what I can, Judy."

"Just do your best, that's all anyone can ask," she said giving him a soft smile.

Judy went back over to Kaiden and Nick. Hamilton immediately started to work, a multitude of windows were called up, his eyes darted from screen to screen, his fingers typing with determination. Kaiden ushered the pair away to leave him to his work.

"She's nice, I like her," Hamilton commented.

"I figured you would," replied Kaiden.

* * *

The three walked to the commissary to get some food. Nick and Judy were famished, realizing they hadn't eaten in many hours, their hunger finally outpaced their anxiety. They each grabbed a few things from off the counter and sat down with Kaiden. They each said nothing at first as they dove into the first few bites. After taking several minutes to regain some composure, Nick glanced toward the operations room

"Look, I don't mean to pry, but what's that guy's deal anyway?" asked Nick.

"Nick!" scolded Judy as she swatted Nick on the arm.

Kaiden swallowed his bite of food and took a breath. "Ever heard of Milton Hamilton?"

Judy and Nick thought about the name for a moment. The name seemed familiar, but they couldn't quite place it.

"Hey, wasn't he the guy that invented some computer program?" Nick guessed.

"Not a program, but the first publicly available encryption scheme, so mammals could keep their data secret from the government. He was a very 'fight the power' kind of mammal." replied Kaiden.

"Isn't he supposed to be worth billions of dollars?" Nick asked.

"His _trust_ is worth billions of dollars. The squirrel himself, not so much."

"Wait, you're saying the squirrel we saw in there was _the_ …"

"Yup…"

"I thought he was a genius or something."

"And he is, but if you're wondering why he acts like that, it's because the council kidnapped and tortured him."

Nick's eyes went wide and his ears perked. Judy's mouth fell agape.

"How long?" Judy asked.

"Four years."

"Oh my god," she whispered. "Why?"

"We really don't know for sure. We got conflicting reports, some say it was for his encryption algorithm, others say they were trying to turn him into, some kind of living computer, all kinds of strange shit like that. The only person who really knows is Hamilton, and he doesn't consciously remember much. Talmadge and I have had deprogrammers try to find out through hypnosis, but those sessions were always… dangerous for Hamilton, so we stopped trying."

"What kind of mammals would do that to such a sweet little squirrel?"

"That's who we're fighting against Judy. They just take and they don't care who they hurt, because to them, we are all cogs in the machine. To them, it's all for the greater good."

"And they destroy Judy's life, all for this stupid flash drive," Nick muttered, holding up his chin with his paw and leaning against the table.

"I think they destroyed both your lives," Kaiden corrected.

Nick turned his attention back to the older fox. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't know about you, but have you given some thought as to how you got fired?"

"I know how I got fired. I have a record, and they found out about it."

"That's not what I mean. The police commission is usually very busy, and they don't have time to personally check on everyone that works for them, that's usually the police chief or at least his staff's job."

"Yeah, and Bogo covered for me."

"Then honestly, they shouldn't have found out, Bogo was in a position to file whatever paperwork and get it lost in the bureaucracy where they likely never would have figured it out. The only exception to that is if you did something to warrant attention, if someone from Internal Affairs or even within the commission itself went out of their way to investigate you. Now it seems to me that you haven't done anything like that, so..."

"What are you getting at?" Nick asked as he raised an eyebrow, wondering where the fox was going with this.

"Someone in the commissioner's office purposefully took your file to those mammals, and they were not working alone."

"Why do you say that?" Nick asked.

"Well, let's put it this way. I read a file on how you were terminated and who exactly pulled your records. The mammal in question, after you were fired, for some reason decided to commit suicide by throwing themselves out of a plate glass window, fell four stories and into a greenhouse below. So you do the math."

"What?!" Nick's mouth fell agape and his face took on a twisted expression of absolute shock. "Why? Why me?"

"I just know that for whatever reason, your life and Judy's were not disrupted by accident."

Nick banged the table in frustration with his paw. "Those sons of bitches, damn it!" Nick gnashed his teeth, his paws balling into fists. He wanted to fight whoever did this to them. He stood up and tried to calm down, but his anger just wouldn't abate.

"I have to clear my head. You said the quarters were which way?"

"Follow the purple line, and look for the room with the piece of paper that has your name on it," Kaiden replied.

Nick walked off flustered. Kaiden didn't know what to say other than to apologize, "I'm sorry."

"So they've been in our lives even before Samir's bust," Judy concluded, a sad and almost confused look on her face.

"' _They_ ,' Judy, have been in our lives since before either of us were born. They have made themselves a part of Zootopia ever since its founding. It's just _now_ that you see them," Kaiden said.

Judy took a breath and stood up to follow Nick.

"I'm sorry the world is not what you thought it was," Kaiden whispered to himself.

* * *

 _Moments later..._

Judy ran down to the guest quarters. She passed a number of rooms before locating the one that had her name on it, then found Nick's a few rooms over. She knocked on the door softly, but didn't hear anything. She slid inside, closing the door behind her.

"Nick?" she asked softly.

She saw Nick sitting on the edge of his bed, cradling his head. She could hear the soft wet sniffles of his sobbing.

"Those bastards!" he exclaimed.

Judy approached, reaching out with her paw and caressing the back of his head to ease his troubles.

"It explains everything. Why my life went off the rails six months ago, and here I was thinking it was all bad luck. Even the jobs I was pulling kept failing for some reason."

"What?"

Nick turned to look at her, the fur around his eyes wet from his tears. A sullen look dominated his face, an expression she had not seen on him before, a look of sheer defeat.

"Carrots, this is what I was trying to tell you. I wanted to tell you that I was broke, running out of money and in trouble. I was going to tell you what I had been doing. I was working with Finnick, and we were working as part of a new crew. And it seemed like every job they were sending us on just kept failing, over and over. Even when we were trying to pull our own jobs, I lost a lot of money," Nick finished, having to catch his breath.

"Nick, why didn't you tell me?"

He sighed. "I don't know. I guess it was shame of going back to that, and then not even succeeding at it. I think I was embarrassed."

Judy rushed over and hugged him. "Nick, I will never judge you. And I will always be there for you."

Nick smiled. "Thank you Judy, that… that means a lot."

Judy smiled back. "Anytime, Nick. Anytime."


	8. Chapter 8: The Council of Five

Chapter 8 : The Council of Five

Sidney Ridgeway had been called before the council. Though he had worked for them for many years, he always corresponded through intermediaries, never once meeting them in person until now. The council generally kept out of direct action in matters for several reasons with safety, plausible deniability among them. The council didn't act overtly; they insinuated, manipulated and administrated. Managing agencies that in turn managed other agencies like boxes stacked on one another, never handling anything directly. They prided themselves on being 'The Invisible Paw' behind Zootopia.

Sid had been summoned to Savannah Central, the more temperate of the many city's districts. The council had a large penthouse residence atop one of the large spires that defined the Zootopian skyline. The residence was used as a place to discuss and plan when events required them to meet in person or to coordinate directly with one another. Though they did not have to do this often, when they _did,_ it would always require time to deliberate and consequently they would need to reside there for days at a time.

As Sid was escorted through the residence, he felt the sheer affluence of it. Affluence with a stain of corruption that was just behind the veneer. Deep reds and gilding dominated the motif. Supple leathers were on the chairs and couches, Sid wondered how or rather whom they could have sourced the material from. The Merbau wood flooring echoed as he took each step. There was a sense of regality, history and tradition. From the moment he arrived on the penthouse floor, there had been two things Sid noticed. First, the staff was exceedingly proper, not speaking unless spoken to and conducting themselves with absolute precision, a subtle hint of fear behind their prim and proper mannerisms. Second, he noticed the guards, black panthers wearing all black uniforms. As he passed each one, their eyes would fixate on him until he passed then turned their gaze back forward. He felt a small twinge of fear grip at him; he knew that one utterance from the council and the guards would tear him limb from limb.

He arrived outside the meeting room, the sound of distant resonating voices were just beyond the thick doors but he couldn't recognize them. In the rare times they would speak with him directly, their voices were electronically scrambled. His thoughts were interrupted when the doors opened outward and another pair of panther guards looked back at him. They didn't speak a word but simply ushered him in with their paws. He was lead to stand on a specific spot, close enough to listen and respond if needed, but far enough for them to respond and kill him should he attempt to harm a council member. The two guards returned to their positions next to the door. Sid simply stayed quiet out of silent deference to them, this was the expected behaviour out of respect to their rank and position.

As he panned his eyes around the room, he immediately recognized them though keeping his sense of awe in check. Outside in the real world, they were captains of industry; financiers, private security firms, and even ZTV, their mask of anonymity finally removed.

There was Blake Cooley, a polar bear from Tundratown, who was the head of Cooley Media Group, the largest Zootopian media conglomerate. He controlled what Zootopia saw and heard, and in doing so, could make them believe even complete lies just by repeating them enough.

Jordan Hoffman, grey wolf, was head of Wolverine Risk Control, a company that sells themselves as a private security firm, when in truth, they were one of the largest private armies in the world. One would choose to hire them for everything from guarding a single building to waging a private and often covert war.

Dr. Bryce Lucas, a fossa, strange and aggressive, managed the physical science division of the group. Dr. Lucas' designs and inventions had revolutionized Zootopia over the years; the railway system, the climate control wall, the modern computer, even the dart guns used by the Zootopia Police Department were designed, produced and maintained by Lucas Technologies. Bryce himself had been either directly or indirectly responsible for the technological advancements made in the last 20 years, owning not only the companies that produced them but also the very lucrative patents that have made his fortune what it is.

Mei Ling Khan, tiger, friends and enemies alike called her the "Tiger Queen of the Far East". Her cunning and business acumen were as dangerous and lethal as her claws. She was the head of Kai Ren Medical, one of the largest medical corporations on the planet. On the outside, the company specialized in treatments and eradication of disease, but behind closed doors, they dedicated resources to creating new plagues and untold suffering: FIV, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, leptospirosis, all either created or weaponized at the behest of bioweapon divisions of military subcontractors and the council itself.

And finally, the head of the Council of Five itself, Nathaniel Logon. A lion, part of the Logon financial and economic dynasty. This lion _was_ Zootopia; with his money, power and influence, his wishes were fulfilled without question, no river too big, no canyon too wide and no valley too deep. Some have called him the incarnation of the proverbial 'unstoppable force'. His enemies simply ceased to be, without bodies, evidence, or even witnesses to solve their disappearances.

Alone, any of these individuals would be a force to reckoned with, but together, they were the Council of Five, the invisible paw. They and their predecessors have guided Zootopian society from the watering hole in an oasis to the modern city of today, the citizenry in mass ignorance of their existence let alone their influence, going about their lives totally unaware of what lay just beneath the surface of civilization.

"Good evening, Sidney," Blake greeted.

Sid simply nodded, "Yes sir, it is," he replied.

"The time has come for the advancement of the plan, and we have chosen you to assist us with it," Blake continued.

"Can we get on with this?" asked Jordan with an insistent and hurried tone in his voice.

"Nervous, are we?"

"Of course I am, I don't like the council all in one place like this," the wolf replied.

"Understandable but it is unavoidable. We are here to oversee the final part of the plan, let us start with where we stand in terms of status. Of course, ladies first," Nathanial said while gesturing a paw toward Mei Ling.

"The Rosslyn project is coming along nicely, we have the required subjects and almost all of them are catalogued. However, we're having a problem with the shielding. We're still waiting for final frequency pulse calculations from Dr. Lucas' team." As she ended her statement she leveled a icy stare at the fossa sitting across from her, her frustrations as plain to see as the stripes on her face.

Nathaniel turned to the fossa and raised an eyebrow. "Well Doctor?"

"It is taking more time than we originally planned to achieve the desired effect, But we don't anticipate any more delays, as soon as we've finished we shall turn the data over to Mei Ling's team."

"See that you do," Nathaniel said. "Jordan?" The lion panned his head to his head of security.

"I am able to report that even though our supplier was removed, we did manage to reclaim the technology crates from police custody thanks to the 'fiends'," said grey wolf.

"And how are we handling the fallout from this, Blake?" asked Nathaniel.

"We are reporting as an attack and not an accident or natural disaster, we've coordinated efforts with the ZPD to convince them that the bombings were in fact an inside job perpetrated by two of their own police officers."

"These wouldn't be the two interlopers who spoiled our plan earlier this year, would it?" asked Nathaniel.

"The very same, I figured you would appreciate the irony of them being eliminated by their own comrades."

The lion tapped the armrest of his chair expectantly, pondering for a moment before he turned back to the Jordan. "If that doesn't work, I want operatives ready to eliminate them in case the police get cold paws. They spoiled our plans once, and I do not want their meddling to interfere with us again. This time we aren't just trying to stir up hatred."

"Yes sir, I will contact our operatives and ensure they are transferred to our custody should the police fail," replied Jordan.

The lion finally turned his attention toward Sid. "And finally you, I want you to oversee the containment with Mei Ling's team, so we do not suffer another mistake at this late date."

"But, Nathanial, my team is perfectly capable—" Mei Ling hissed.

Nathaniel snapped and stared at the tigress. "Your team seemed capable when they provided for the nighthowler program last year, and look how that turned out. I will not tolerate another failure Mei Ling, understood?"

"Yes, Nathanial," she reluctantly capitulated as her claws dug into her chair's armrests in frustration. She sat back in her chair and tilted her head towards Sid, glaring at him. She let out a single but audible snort of exasperation. Sid observed this then turned his eyes back to Nathaniel.

"Do you understand your assignment, Mr. Ridgeway?" the lion asked.

"Yes sir, I do," Sid replied with a nod.

"Good, then you may go."

Sid clicked his heels, bowing slightly to the council, and left the room, the panther guards ushering him out. Nathaniel waited for the doors to click shut before he continued.

"Now, tell me Jordan, what are we doing about this Bureau 13 business?"

"We have been trying to find them but have not had much success, the mammals that work for them are highly trained and well-funded, which is surprising, as such funding should leave a trail for us to follow, however locating them has proven extremely difficult," Jordan responded.

Bryce smirked. "Surely a band of misfits such as them is of no consequence. I feel as though we should concentrate on achieving the final plan."

"While I would normally agree, however Bureau 13 has been able to make a habit out of finding our more sensitive operations and successfully disrupting them, So I would not dismiss them out of paw, Bryce. Now, what is this I hear about a security breach?"

"Yes, when our supplier was taken into custody, his access key was also taken, Though that key has been recovered by Sidney," Jordan replied. "He is on his way to destroy it as we speak actually."

"Good, I'm glad that you are on top of it Jordan." Nathaniel calmed himself and turned toward the tigress, patting her lightly on the paw. "Mei Ling, am I correct in assuming that your team is ready for phase one?".

"Correct, we are awaiting your order to deploy."

"And I assume that all relevant assets are protected?"

"Of course," she said with a confident nod.

Nathaniel smiled softly as he could see the different pieces of the plan starting to come together, "Then the order, is given."

"I will begin deployment immediately," said Mei Ling.

Nathaniel stood up, walked over to the window and looked out upon the streets of Zootopia, seeing the city stretch out into the distance, watching the mammals running about their daily lives like small ants.

"Of course, I defer to your judgement on the details, Blake should be able to provide you with any media coverage should you need it."

"Just say the word, Mei Ling, we have a cover story ready to go," Blake interjected. "When the time comes Nathaniel, how do you want to contain the panic?"

"Why contain it? Let it spill out into the streets, the schools, the homes. Show the riots, let the bodies pile up in the streets, it doesn't matter. In the end, they will still beg us to save them." Nathaniel smiled with mirth. "If our previous asset taught us anything, it's that fear can be a great motivator. This was what we were trying to achieve a year ago but our failure then was in trusting an untested technology in the paws of an asset who in the end was untrustworthy. Who decided that they would rather try to strike out on their own. Well, look where it got them."

"And this time?" Blake questioned.

"This time, _we_ will be in control. The coordinated efforts of all of us assembled here working towards a common goal… To make the world better. And after we are finished, we will be able to design the perfect society, and all of the problems that the world is plagued with today will simply vanish. Would you all agree?"

The rest of the council silently nodded in agreement to their leader's statement.

* * *

 _Later…_

As Sid stepped off the elevator he could smell the unusual amount of cleanliness in the air. A slight static electricity from the nearby ionic filters in the vents tugged at his fur. The subbasement he arrived in was an information hub. The floors had a smooth sheen and felt cold against his paws. The walls had a rocky texture and were ochre in color, as if the basement was carved out of the bedrock beneath the building.

Sid moved past the technicians walked toward his destination, one of the data processing rooms. A simple room with a series workstations in recessed in the walls. Sid approached one and slid out the attached chair, folding its back upward before sitting down. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the thumb drive that Nick had given to him. Holding it between his thumb and forefinger, he stared at it a moment. Taking a few seconds to process his thoughts, he craned his head, looking left and right to make sure that no one else was in the room. He clutched the drive in his paw and took a deep breath.

He logged into the machine, and decided to place a video call. But before he did, he brought up several black command boxes and used a series of commands before placing his call. It rang several times before the recipient answered and the camera at the other end began to transmit. Samir's image appeared with the background of what appeared to be a study behind him.

"I did not expect you to contact me so soon," he began.

"Well, I thought I would check in with my favorite camel," Sid replied.

Sid looked down and typed a few commands, opening a text chat box.

' _I have encrypted the text chat, but the video is not._ '

After Sid pressed send, there was a small notification ping that rang through Simar's microphone. Samir's eyes moved down from looking into the camera eye to read something on his screen. Looking back up, he nodded slightly.

"Well, it's always good to be someone's favorite." He smiled.

' _Interesting game you play, what is so important you have to contact me this way?_ ' Samir typed.

"I must apologize for not giving more forewarning. And your arrest, that was my mistake," Sidney said.

' _I managed to make contact with the two that survived the station assault._ ' Sid typed back.

"Mistakes happen, you cannot blame yourself for events that are out of your control."

' _They didn't try to give you the drive back did they? What about the plan?_ '

Sid feigned shame and took the opportunity to type his response.

' _Better, Wilde did exactly what I expected him to, I just need to reconfigure it to match the key._ '

"Sidney, even you cannot be everywhere at once. Besides, my breakout gave me a chance to see one of our safe houses first paw." Samir smiled.

' _Reconfigure, you mean make them believe in a fake? A dangerous thing indeed. What if you get caught?_ '

"So I guess you see it as a vacation of sorts?"

' _Hence why I needed to speak with you. I want to proceed, but only if you will support it. Will you support it?_ '

"Of course I do. You know me," Samir responded to both questions.

"I know, I just wanted to make it clear. You _do_ understand why this needs to be done, yes?" Sid asked, giving Samir an eyebrow raise and a slight head tilt.

"For everyone's safety as it's been explained to me," Samir assured.

' _You don't need to tell me twice after hearing about their plans, the sheer madness of it all. You do realize what unspeakable things they will do to us if we're caught?_ ' Samir typed.

' _The concept is sound. Their application, methods are what's questionable._ '

' _I'm not getting into this debate again. You're sure about this?_ '

"It is what it is, Samir. All I can say is that it's necessary. Still though, I'm sorry that it inconveniences you."

' _So can I count on your support?_ '

The text cursor of Samir's side of the conversation blinked at Sid, and even across the great distance he could feel Samir's contemplation as to an answer. An answer that would define the next step, not only for themselves, but potentially for everyone.

"You don't have to worry Sidney, I don't blame you for things happening the way they've gone. Destiny's plans are unknown to us, so in the end, we all do what we can because that's what we feel is right," Samir replied.

' _Do what you need to do._ '

"I'm glad we're on the same page. Thank you for answering." Sid nodded.

Samir simply nodded in response and closed the call. The computer beeped and the room was quiet again save for the soft hum of the workstations. Sidney looked around again in case someone had walked in. He sighed as he looked at the flash drive, picking it up and putting it into the workstation's USB port. He entered several commands and reconfigured the drive before opening a program on the workstation's desktop. The program was written by the council's many technology experts for cases like these, where an access key for whatever reason needed to be destroyed. The program would verify the key then remove its access from their systems. His fear was that the key would not pass despite his best efforts to duplicate Samir's key. If he was successful, then the meaningless key would be destroyed in seconds and the council satisfied. If not, alarms, and an unfortunate death.

Holding the mouse's cursor over the 'Start' button, he took a moment to consider things. "Walk away or commit," he pondered.

"Fuck it," he muttered as he clicked the button. The standard warnings displayed on the screen. "Do not interrupt, alarms will sound". Though Sidney's main focus was on the progress bar, watching it slowly crawl from the left to the right, he felt the stabbing anxiety in his chest and his heart race. In a few moments, he would find out if his life was forfeit or not.

The seconds seemed to stretch out for an eternity as the program did its work. Images of what he might do, what he _could_ do to get out of the building in case of failure filled his mind. ' _Think positive,'_ he reminded himself. The bar crawled up, the moment of truth as it neared the end of its sequence. He held his breath as he watched the last few pixels filled out the rest of the bar.

"Verified," along with a green check mark. Sidney let out a exasperated sigh and a small smile formed on his lips. Never had he been so glad to see the color green before. It had passed and now he was firmly committed to his path. Finishing his work, he had the program destroy the data on the flash drive and burn it out. Following the instructions on the screen, he pulled the drive from the workstation, he paused for a moment to feel the drive's warmth in his paws.

"All of this, over something so small," he muttered.

He logged out and stood up, carefully folding the seat and pushing it back under the desk. Noting how such an intense moment occurred in such a mundane place, he walked towards the door, tossing the drive into the nearby disposal bin before grabbing the handle.

 _And so, now it begins,_ he thought.

* * *

 _Zootopia, The next morning, Central Station..._

The hustle and bustle of the various citizens of Zootopia filled the air: business mammals trying to get to work, other travelers, children, adults, teenagers, of various breeds. The sheer, controlled chaos of it, mammals living their lives. The trains were coming and going on their clockwork schedule, moving the residents of the city to their appointed destinations.

In the middle of it all were two maintenance workers, a hippo and an antelope, the names Frank and Bill displayed on the nameplates of their coveralls. They were moving a work cart full of tools and various items to a mechanical area near the air conditioner system.

"So Frank, you heard about this new place up on 7th? Think we should try it for lunch."

"Oh yeah, that place looks like a rainforest, I heard about it, sure why not," the hippo replied.

The pair went about their job, changing the air filters of the AC system, eventually finding themselves near the main air handler. Frank stopped when he felt the vibration of his cell phone in his pocket as it rang loudly against the intense air passing through the nearby conduit piping.

"Hey wait, wait a second. I got a phone call." Frank pulled out his cell phone and answered it. "Yeah, we're here... Is this her? Yeah, yeah, I know procedure, so what's the word?"

Frank nodded in agreement with the voice speaking to him on the phone. He glanced over at his partner then nodded toward a toolbox on their cart.

"Right. Uh huh. Yeah, we're planning to set the AC unit to 15 minutes, is that ok?" The hippo paused to listen to the reply, then smiled. "Perfect, all I wanted to know. Thank you." He hung up the phone and walked over to Bill.

"Hey, she said 15 minutes. That should give us enough time."

"Alright, good to go. Here, don't forget to mask up, this shit is dangerous from what I hear," the antelope replied as he tossed his partner a mask before putting one on himself.

The two gloved up and opened the toolbox, each retrieving a blank metal cylinder each. They took them over to ports in the AC Unit for injecting coolant. Bill shut down the AC unit and the two plugged the cylinders in, twisting them tightly. Each opened the valves on their canister; a sharp hiss was heard as the contents shot into the air system. The antelope set the unit to a delayed start of 15 minutes.

"Alright, we're good. Let's get the hell out of here."

"So, that rainforest place. You want to hit that up or what?" Frank offered.

"Sounds good to me," Bill replied as the two packed up their gear and left, the timer steadily counting down.

Minutes later, down on the main floors, the air conditioner flow started again. The air billowed out into the train station with a mist expulsed from the vents and evaporated seconds later, the air flowed down onto the unsuspecting Zootopians below.

* * *

 _Zootopia, A couple weeks later, Down on Avenue K..._

A lion teenager was watching TV through the front window of an electronics shop. The news story caught his eye, the occasional wet cough erupted from his throat as he tried to listen. The news anchors delivered their segment with a cheery disposition.

" _Well, it seems the flu season has come a bit late this year with residents of several districts reporting flu-like symptoms,"_ the deer news anchor stated. " _We have our medical correspondent to tell us more. Grace?_ "

The segment cut to a rabbit anchor, " _Thanks, Chet. Yes, based on our research, it seems that the Zoonotic influenza has decided to hit us again this year. Scientists are blaming it on the cooler conditions giving the virus a second season, so citizens are urged to try and get lots of rest, take extra vitamins, and make sure you're properly hydrated. Since it is a virus, we have to tough it out, but if your symptoms become more severe, you should go see a doctor immediately. Back to you Chet._ "

" _Thank you, Grace. And coming up, we have the scores to all your favorite sports with Jumpin' Jack Brackoski..._ "

The lion stopped listening to the news and turned away, cradling his head. His head ached with a intense and sharp pounding; he felt fatigued and decided to go back home. As he glanced around he noticed that the other mammals on the street were also looking out of sorts. Some were coughing, others sneezing, but all looking as sickly as he was.

 _Looks like this flu thing is everywhere,_ he thought. _I just want to crawl into bed_.

The lion trailed off down the street, heading back in the direction of his home.


	9. Chapter 9: Kai Ren Medical

Chapter 9: Kai Ren Medical

Zootopia, Savannah District, Kai Ren Medical, Middle of night, A week later...

The street lamps illuminated the heavy drops of mist in the air and created a fog that gave the streets and buildings an almost ghostly appearance. The nearby Kai Ren Medical building towered above its surroundings. It's red and gold glow gave a far eastern vibe to any passersby as it slashed its way into the Zootopia skyline. It was here that Mei Ling Kahn chose to make her lair, even going so far as to take up residence in the penthouse on the top of the building.

A black van parked nearby the Kai Ren Medical building. Kit positioned the van behind nearby bushes to conceal it. After crawling back to the others in the rear of the van, he distributed dart guns and cartridges.

"So, what are we doing here?" Judy asked.

"Kai Ren Medical is headed up by Mei Ling Kahn, and we have strong evidence to suggest that she is a member of the Council of Five," Kit replied.

"That and KRM has been long suspected of working as a military subcontractor to create bioweapons," Kaiden added.

"Wait a minute, I've seen their commercials on TV. These are the guys that give all that money to children's hospitals and have free clinics down in the poorer parts of Zootopia," Judy replied.

"Maybe they feel a little guilty," Nick added, his words dripping with sarcasm.

"That's not helping, Nick," Judy fired back.

"Tonight, our goal isn't about proving whether she is or isn't part of the council. Tonight is about this," Kaiden said as he showed an intelligence report to the group.

Judy started to scan through the report; when she got about halfway her eyes widened and her head snapped back up toward Kaiden. "They think the disease is mammal made?"

"That is the current thinking, yes. I mean, it's true a few mammals die every year from the flu, but given the rate at which it's spreading, that cover story is starting to wear a bit thin," Kaiden explained. "And if you keep reading, the population of the city is starting to suspect that something is wrong. A few scurries and stampedes have already happened for starters."

"So what are we doing here?" Judy asked.

"Because we think KRM is manufacturing it," Kit pointed toward the building. "That's why we're here. Our assignment is to get in, find any information on the virus, namely any kind of data on a cure, and get out."

"Also, without raising any alarms, or creating a body count," Kaiden added.

"Yeah, dead bodies and alarms are usually a bad thing," Nick joked.

"Oh it gets better," Kaiden smirked. "We aren't going against run of the mill rent-a-cops either. We're going against Wolverine Risk Control contractors."

"Wolverine Risk Control?" Nick rose an eyebrow, puzzled. "I've never heard of them before."

"I take it that in all of your work with selling goods to mammals, you never messed around with having to bring anything into the city?"

"No, I'll be honest, that kind of thing was a bit more involved than I felt comfortable with."

"That explains it then… Well, Wolverine Risk Control is on one paw a private security firm who sells themselves as 'the best', and on the other paw, they are a private military who will work for whoever pays them. High powered weapons, state of the art armor, and as of a few months ago, permission to operate domestically."

"Oh… well, shit," Nick said.

"Exactly. So it would probably be wise to not get caught," Kaiden said.

"You ready for this?" Kit asked as he went to the back door of the van and unlocked it.

"Well, I thought I was until you said that," Judy smiled nervously.

"Look, if we're careful everything will be fine," Kaiden said, giving a nervous smile of his own as he tried to reassure the two of them.

The group got out of the van and checked their gear. They wore black nylon tactical gear, the same type often used by soldiers for urban warfare and the ZPD for their TUSK teams. Judy felt the extra plates of ballistic protection that were tucked into the embedded pockets of the vest she wore. Definitely more coverage than my uniform, she thought.

They carefully walked down to the fence surrounding KRM's property; this particular spot was a fence section adjacent to the parking lot. There were WRC troopers that patrolled the parking lot, and likely the sub-basements that Bureau 13 suspected were beneath the building. The four approached the fence section, which had bushes just outside the fence line acting as a privacy hedge. Kaiden used bolt cutters on a section of exposed fence, trying to be as quiet as possible as each pop of the chain link broke under the teeth of the cutters. He held open the flap he created, helping the others through before following behind.

The sodium-vapor bulbs used in the parking lot lights cast a dull orange glow over everything the light touched. The two guards patrolled the lot methodically, back and forth, eyes haphazardly scanning the perimeter for any movement. Kaiden noticed their steps were slow and listless. Perhaps the early morning hour has caught them inattentive, he thought. The four crept from car to car quietly, making sure to avoid their vision. The group stopped behind one of the parked vehicles as they heard one of the guards lean against it. Kaiden peered around the bumper and saw the guard perch his weapon on the bumper and light a cigarette. The guard apparently decided to take his smoke break just at that moment, trapping the group behind the truck. Kaiden pulled back from the edge and looked back at the group, gesturing his thumb towards the guard and mimicking his motion by putting a pair of fingers to his lips. Kit picked up on this and shook his head softly, rolling his eyes at the bad luck, and they hadn't even set paw in the building yet.

It took only a few minutes for the guard to finish his cigarette, but it felt like an eternity being stuck on the other side of the vehicle. Relief finally came as they heard the soft patter of the finished butt hit the ground and the scrap of a footpaw putting out the embers. The guard picked up his weapon and walked away, continuing on his patrol route and never once looking back. The group decided to continue forward as they made their way to the building proper.

Once at the building itself, they crouched low and made their way to where the air handlers connected to the building, a small fenced-in section. Kaiden used the bolt cutters on the chain locking the access gate. After letting themselves in, Kit closed the gate behind them and looped the chain around the gate's pole and the fence pole so that at a glance it would still appear secure. The din of the air handlers was loud enough to cover the electric screwdrivers Nick and Judy used to remove the vent cap. They clambered into the vent and into the maze of ductwork, and the rush of the air blew on their fur and echoed in their ears with a loud, dull roar. Kaiden led the group crawling away from the noise of the air, guided by a map on his PDA.

The group eventually found themselves on one of the lower levels down in one of the sub-basements. The noise and movement of the air was now bearable, and Nick found the steady breeze practically comfortable. The sound had a white noise quality to it as they made their way to their destination. As they reached their planned exit, Kaiden popped off the vent housing. The square grate went skittering across the floor as he punched it out.

They found themselves in a pump room. Above them was a series of pipes, valves and pumps used to push water to service the floors above. The pressurized water moving through the pipes made an almost relaxing hum as the machinery did its work.

Kaiden looked at the group. "How is everyone doing, so far so good?"

Kit, Nick, and Judy all replied in the affirmative. Kaiden motioned to Kit to look at his PDA and plan their next move. Nick looked at Judy with a smile on his face. She looked back and answered with a smile of her own.

"What?" she asked Nick.

"I can't believe we are actually doing this," he replied. His ears were perked and flicked intermittently at small sounds in the room.

"I know what you mean," Judy said. "I mean there's training, but then there's the real thing."

"Are you really ok?"

"Yeah, just knowing you're here helps."

"I won't let anything happen to you," he assured.

Judy nodded. She believed in those words; she knew that Nick would do everything he could to protect her. She felt her ears get warm as she saw how he looked at her. Kaiden and Kit turned back to the two.

"Okay, I think I have our route laid out. We are in the south-west corner, here, and we have to get to the north wall," Kaiden said, gesturing to the small PDA screen. "Now, on that north wall is an elevator. Unfortunately, the building blueprints end at this floor, so we don't know what's down there. Keep on your paws. We have tranquilizer darts as well as lethal ammo. We'll need to be quiet, but if things go pear-shaped, do what you need to do. Kit and I will take point. Judy and Nick, you will be ready to back us up if we need it. OK?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"I don't think I need to tell you how important this is," Kaiden continued. "Judy, you got that flashdrive?"

"I got it right here," she replied, patting the drive sitting under her vest.

"Okay, let's go. Smoothly and quietly."

They approached a nearby door leading out of the room and to the rest of the sub-basement. Kit and Kaiden paused a moment before opening it. Kit drew his weapon, holding it in front of him. With a quick motion, Kaiden opened the door and Kit quickly leaned out and scanned the hallway for patrolling guards. He signaled with his paw for them to continue forward. The four crept out into the hallway, and Kaiden closed the door behind him. When they reached a corner, Kit used a paw mirror to see past it; there was a feline WRC guard walking down the hall, moving away from them. Kit readied his tranquilizer rifle and inspected his target through the sight. The scope flashed "No Range" at him in blinking red letters, meaning that he was too far for the dart to hit. Kit quickly turned back and grit his teeth. He looked at Kaiden and signaled with his paws. "One guard, walking away, no shot"

Kaiden quickly bent down to Judy. "What's the fastest you can run and still stay silent?" he whispered.

"I can do it," she replied.

"Okay, we're counting on you," Kaiden said.

Judy took out her tranq gun, inhaled slowly, and sprinted around the corner. Her footpaws left no sound as she raced toward the unsuspecting guard. The other three leaned around to watch, ready to back her up in case she needed it. When she was only a few feet from the cat, she took aim and darted him in the neck. The guard made a small reactionary grunt, winced, and fell unconscious onto the floor.

The other three went down the hallway and collected the guard. Kaiden pointed to a nearby door that lead into a side office, and they dragged the guard inside and left him there, closing the door behind them. The group continued on their path, and around another corner. They eventually found the elevator that they were looking for, it was in an alcove with two blind corners on either side. They could see two guards positioned on either side of the elevator door — one a short wolf, the other a badger. Kaiden and Kit looked at each other with concern.

"Could there be two more facing the other way? On the blind corners I mean," Kit asked.

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Kaiden said.

Kit and Kaiden decided to risk it, especially since the elevator seemed the only way off this floor and closer toward their goal. They coordinated on their shots, took aim, and shot the guards center mass. They each reacted with shock as they felt the pinch of the darts before falling unconscious to the floor. Kaiden and Kit paused for a moment, waiting for the other pair of hypothetical guards to make an appearance, but they never did. The group walked up to the metal doors and Kit went to work on the access panel to summon the elevator.

"Judy, Nick, watch our six," Kaiden ordered.

They kept watch down the hallway.

"That was awesome," Nick whispered, flashing an excited smile. "That guard never heard you coming!"

"I know, right?" Judy replied. Her heart was still racing from her takedown.

Kit was still working on the panel, shaking his head and letting out occasional growls of frustration. When Kaiden heard this, he turned and looked over the wolf's shoulder.

"What's the holdup?"

"It's using a floating prime number sequence with a random pattern mask," Kit muttered.

"So… you can pop it, right?"

"Maybe," he replied with a tone of concern in his voice.

Kaiden shook his head in frustration. Nick overheard this exchange and thought about the situation for several moments. He arrived on an idea and proceeded to search the guard's pockets, After digging for a bit, he found an access card on one of them and presented the card to Kit.

"I think this might work better," Nick suggested with a sly grin on his face.

Kit took the access card and tried it. The access light on the panel flashed green and the elevator started to move.

"How did you know?" Kit asked.

"I didn't see any kind of bathroom or break room down here, so when these guys got to go, where else would they go? Nick replied.

"Another floor," Kit nodded as he understood what Nick was getting at.

"Bingo."

"Of course, and to get to a break room or bathroom they would have to take the elevator. Smart thinking, Nick," Kaiden complimented.

The elevator approached and opened up for them. They walked in and descended down to the bottom sub-basement. They readied themselves for more guards, but when the elevator door opened, it was quiet. The room they found themselves in was a large open storage space; nobody was down there that they could tell, not even guards. As they walked out into the room, they saw rows and rows of cylinders, each connected to nearby computers. The room was cold. Some of the piping was frosted over, with the label "Liquid Nitrogen" written on them.

They walked around and looked at the cylinders; they varied in length, but all seemed to be for the same purpose. Judy approached one and examined it closely. One end of the cylinders had a movable metal plate; she slid it open, and gasped at what she saw. The others heard the gasp, and ran over to her.

"Judy, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost," Nick said.

"You're not that far off, actually," she responded, pointing to the cylinder.

The rest of the group looked where she was pointing. Inside the storage cylinder was a frozen Zootopian. The mammal inside was a male, middle-aged pig, and the tube was icy with frozen bits of condensation crystallized against the inside of the glass. The pig appeared to be dead; his skin was tinged blue, and if he was breathing, none of them could tell.

"What the hell is this?" Kaiden wondered.

Kit looked at a nearby status panel, which had bio data on the mammal in the pod. The activity graph showed that the mammal inside was in fact still alive in a deep state of hibernation; heartbeat, respiration, even brain activity, all at low, almost barely detectable levels.

"Whoever it is, they are alive," Kit stated.

"Check the others," said Kaiden.

The group split up and looked into other pods. Zootopian after Zootopian was in stasis. Males, females, young, old, predator and prey alike; all different kinds of species filled the pods. They regrouped back in the center of the room.

"An entire room of pawpsicles," Nick joked with a weak laugh. No one else in the group laughed with him.

"Yeah, this is not part of the virus," Kaiden said. "This is something else."

"What's that over there?" Judy asked, pointing to a nearby object on the far wall.

The group turned to look at where she was pointing. On the wall was a terminal. The screen was locked and a Kai Ren Medical logo spun on the display. The monitor itself was housed in a metal framing, and no other access was visible. Judy approached it and looked it over, finding a single USB slot in the smooth metallic framing around the monitor. She pulled out the silver flash drive and looked at the tip, then at the slot. She reached out and plugged it in. The screen unlocked and displayed the message "Welcome, Asset 113."

The panel below the terminal opened to reveal a keyboard and mouse paw pad, along with additional access ports. The other three, who were watching close, silently cheered. Kaiden stepped next to Judy and activated his comm link on his ear.

"Talmadge, are you online? We've got access, and we did not find the virus, repeat, we did not find the virus."

"We're here, what did you find?" asked Talmadge.

"I don't know exactly," he replied slowly. "We found... mammals in cryo stasis. We're still investigating."

Kaiden reached into his pocket and pulled out a device. He hooked it into one of the additional ports next to the keyboard and turned it on.

"We are streaming data to you now."

"Hamilton is already on it."

Judy was perusing the files while the B13 device did its job. Nick came and looked over her shoulder.

"What is Project Roslyn?" asked Judy.

"Doesn't sound familiar," Kaiden replied.

Judy glanced at the other files, which contained detailed data on the subjects. Words like "runaway," "addict," "orphan," and others popped out to her. She also saw phrases she didn't understand like "genetic template," "mitochondrial DNA," and pictures of the mammal's genes mapped out in a series of lines and bars.

"Why would they do this to these mammals?" she asked.

"Why these mammals specifically, or in general?"

"These mammals in particular," she said. "Homeless mammals, drug addicts, prosti…"

"Because they're animals who nobody is going to miss, or rather, file a missing mammal's case on," Kit said.

"That's exactly it," Kaiden said. "They wanted to do this as quietly as possible."

"The more that I learn about these mammals, the more I hate them," Nick said. His ears were pinned against his head, and his eyes grew dark as they scanned over the screen.

Nick put a paw on Judy's left shoulder and squeezed. Judy reached up with her right paw and squeezed it back. Meanwhile, Kaiden communicated back to B13. "Boss, what do you have?"

Hamilton jumped onto the comm line. "Terminal contains files pertaining to cryo pods… no information on the virus, though. Must be in a different database."

"We can't go to the upper floors without being seen," Kaiden said.

There was a moment of pause on the line.

"We need that information. Is there any way you can get that information covertly?" Talmadge asked.

"That's a negative sir. They will see us the moment we step out of the elevator," replied Kaiden.

Nick's mind buzzed with possibilities as the two mammals talked. After several moments, inspiration struck.

"You know those two guards we knocked out?" he asked.

"What about them?" asked Kit.

Nick went over to Judy and spun her around and stood side by side.

"We're about the same size as them, wouldn't you say?"

Kaiden immediately realized what he was thinking and shook a finger. "No, it's too dangerous."

"We can do it," Nick said.

Kaiden shook his head and frowned. "First, you're not trained in infiltration. And second… it's a very bad idea. What if you're caught? The whole operation could be compromised, and we'd lose you two for sure. It's not an option."

"Oh, come on, you call it 'infiltration', I call it a con," Nick said. "And trust me, that's something I know. I've spent a long time making people think I was something that I wasn't."

"But if you fail, it's not just some lost pocket change, Nick," Kaiden said. "It's your lives."

"And we can't come and get you either," Kit added. "We can't let them know we were ever here, otherwise they might change their plans, or up their time table. If you do it, you're on your own."

Nick and Judy looked at each other then back at them.

"We know, but we need this information, right?" Judy pressed. "Or people will keep getting sicker."

"Plus, you need to get more info anyway, and this key is the only thing that works," Nick said.

Kaiden got back on the comm. "What do you think boss?" he asked.

"It's your op and your team, Kaiden. But we need that information," Talmadge replied.

Kaiden stopped and closed his eyes, then sighed. He realized that there was only one option to him.

He opened his eyes and turned to look at his comrade. "Kit, go back and get those guards."

* * *

Minutes later…

Judy and Nick had changed out of the tactical gear and into the WRC uniforms of the two guards. The fits weren't perfect, but they were passable. They fitted the cords of their radio earpieces around their left ears. Kaiden gave Judy back the silver flash drive and the Bureau 13 data device, and instructed her on its use. He gave Nick the access card before placing a paw on their shoulders.

"Listen to me, both of you. You watch each other's backs up there," he said. "I don't care what important info is up there, it's not worth your lives. But if your covers are blown, then do what you need to do. Do it and come home. You got me?"

They both nodded to Kaiden and then Kit. Kit gave them a PDA with a floor map on it.

"This will tell you where to go when you get to your floor. The data center is up on the 67th floor," he explained. "Whatever you do, do not go to floor 69 or 70. Those are Mei Ling Kahn's personal residence floors, and we definitely don't need her seeing you."

The pair looked at one another before nodding again. "Got it," they replied in unison.

Nick and Judy put their rifle straps over their necks and shoulders before the four of them got into the elevator and went back up to the sub-basement. Kaiden and Kit got off and looked back at both of them.

"Good luck you two, and be safe," Kaiden said.

The elevator door started closing. The concerned faces of Kaiden and Kit vanished behind the metal sheen of the door. Nick slid the access card and hit the button for the 67th floor.

As the elevator started to climb, Judy was trying to stay calm, trying to steady her breathing, but was failing miserably. Nick noticed her breathing harder and her eyes were fixated like a deer in headlights. He took hold of her paw, and Judy looked over at him.

"You scared?" he asked.

"Terrified," she replied. "You?"

"Same here, to be honest."

Nick hugged her tightly while keeping an eye on the floor numbers.

"It'll be alright. Just think 'I'm a tough bad ass G.I. Bunny.'" Nick said. That earned a weak chuckle out of her.

"Okay, you're a 'tough bad ass G.I. Bunny, Nick,'" she said. Nick could tell she was trying to laugh her way through her nerves.

"You know what I meant," he replied, sticking out his tongue.

Judy turned to look at the floor numbers. They were close now.

The elevator arrived at their stop. As the doors opened, Judy and Nick contorted their faces into the blank, bored expressions that WRC guards would have while patrolling, masking the fear pounding away in their chests. They stepped off the elevator, and Nick pulled out his PDA to open their map. They followed the path on the screen, turning where it said to turn, and concealing it as they passed by other WRC guards. Since Nick and Judy had made it to the floor without any issues, they weren't harassed or questioned by anyone.

The upper floors definitely had a corporate feel to them but were very high end in design. The flooring was all rich, polished wood, and the walls were made of solid marble. Nick silently took stock in how expensive all this must have been.

After a few minutes of walking, they got to the small data room. Nick slid the card and opened the door for Judy, and the pair walked inside. The data room was a small room with blue lighting, a large computer bank and a single terminal. Judy plugged in what Kaiden had given her and started accessing the computer.

"Nick, keep watch for me," Judy asked.

Nick went just outside the door and stood on the wall, like he had seen the other guards do. He watched Judy through the glass as she unlocked the terminal and attached the data streamer.

Judy got on the radio.

"Kaiden, Talmadge, are you guys getting this?" she asked.

"Yes, Judy, good work. We're streaming it down now, stand by," Talmadge replied.

Nick overheard the chatter on his earpiece and heaved a sigh of relief.

A wolf guard came around the corner to the data center.

"Hey, you!" the guard addressed Nick.

"Me?" Nick pointed to himself with his left paw while clutching his rifle with the other.

"Yeah, you. Boss lady wants a briefing," said the guard.

"Uh… my orders were to stand guard over the data center," Nick said, pointing at the room.

Judy could overhear the exchange; she dropped to the floor and slid under a nearby desk. She breathed shallow, silent breaths as her heart raced.

The guard rolled his eyes. "You must be one of the rookies. Well, I'm the local supervisor," he said. His tone was authoritative and cruel, and reminded Nick of a particularly ornery math teacher he had in school. "When I say to do something, you do it. Now move your ass."

"Just go," whispered Judy over the radio.

Nick glanced inside the data center, trying to conceal that he was looking at someone. He bit his lip and hesitated; the last thing he wanted to do was split up and leave her alone.

"I'm ok, really," she continued. "Just go. I'll tell you when to come back for me."

Nick looked back at the supervisor.

"Hey, fox, you hearing me?" The guard took a step closer to Nick, his eyes growing skeptical.

"Yes, of course," Nick replied. He stepped off his spot, which seemed to sate the guard. The two turned, and with Nick following, walked away from the data center.

Nick was escorted by the supervisor up to the 69th Floor and taken into Mei Ling's residence foyer; there were about 10 other guards there, including the supervisor and Nick. He casually stood beside the other guards, and then she appeared.

Mei Ling Kahn was an orange striped tiger, beautiful, but with a sinister feel about her. She came walking out of her office wearing a red dress, the Pandanese design of gold silk embroidery resembling a tiger's stripes and the high collar indicative of her origins. The claws on her feet clicked against the tread of the stairway she came down, looking down at the WRC troops like a monarch inspecting her vassals.

"Atten-hut!" called out the supervisor.

Nick stood at attention with the rest of the guards. Mei Ling paced in front of the guards to address them.

"Brave animals of the WRC, I appreciate your efforts these past few weeks. I understand it is hard to work these long hours away from your families."

As she walked by, Nick noticed a subtle perfume she wore. He thought it smelled subtly like lilac, it's heady and spicy aroma trailing behind her like a ghost. She gave each guard a once-over.

"But I assure you, your efforts have not gone unnoticed. We have had no breaches or alarms, and I must say your sense of duty is admirable —"

Then she got to Nick, and looked him over with special interest.

"— and you shall be rewarded for your efforts."

She extended a single claw from her index finger and held it gently to his muzzle, pushing up slightly to lift his chin. She got in close and cautiously sniffed him. Nick struggled to keep his composure against the feeling of her breath on his fur and the subtle sound of her purr.

"Foxes, such noble creatures," she began. "Mammals think they are nothing but liars and thieves, but in truth, they are noble in their own way. It is said they choose the same mate for life. Did you know that... Stiles?" she said as she glanced down at the name tag on Nick's uniform.

"Er, of course, Ma'am, I did," he replied as he locked eyes with her. The way they shimmered between blue and green had an almost hypnotic effect that Nick found himself under.

"And do you know why?" asked Mei Ling.

"Loyalty, Ma'am."

"Exactly, loyalty. It's a quality in such short supply these days," she said. She sniffed him once more, running her nose along his neck. His skin prickled at her close proximity.

"You have a mate don't you? I can smell her on you," she inquired with a smile that showcased her sharp feline teeth.

"Yes, Ma'am. She's definitely special," Nick replied. He could feel that she was trying to crawl into his head, like a buzzing of bees trying to shake him. He thought of Judy back in the data center, and managed to stay calm despite Mei Ling's presence.

His fortitude was shattered when she gripped his chin and kissed him, her barbed tongue tickling the inside of his mouth. The faint, metallic taste of blood stained her breath as she kissed him. He inwardly shuddered as he pondered what, or rather who, the blood could have come from.

She broke the kiss and stood back, still wearing her wide grin.

"Your taste… She's a lucky girl," she purred.

She walked back to the other guards, giving them all a once-over, but she did not repeat the action on anyone else. Nick felt sick to his stomach as he could feel the taste sliding down his throat.

"Loyalty, a quality rarely given, and even more rarely shared, but a constant that I insist upon. Your continued loyalty shall be rewarded, and conversely, disloyalty shall be harshly punished. Consider these words in the coming days and weeks here."

With that, Mei Ling turned and left them, disappearing back into her lair. The wooden doors closed as she passed back through them.

"Dismissed," the supervisor called out.

The guards each left the foyer in a group. Several of them gave Nick sympathetic glances and shrugs. Even the supervisor looked disturbed as he walked over to Nick.

"Hey, sorry about that, Stiles. I've honestly never seen her do that before." He patted Nick on the shoulder. "You going to be ok?"

"I, er, yes sir. I think I'll be fine," Nick replied.

"Just go back to your post, and uh, try to forget. I know I will."

The supervisor led Nick back to the elevator, but didn't get in with him. Nick pressed the button to take him back to the floor Judy was on. He instinctively gagged and almost vomited in his mouth. He spat a few times onto the floor of the elevator and scraped his tongue on the rough uniform fabric of his arm. Nick reached his floor and took a deep breath. Get back to Judy and get the hell out of here, he thought.

He walked back to the small data room and opened the door. Judy came out with the flashdrive and data streamer in paw.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think I'll be alright," Nick said.

"What the hell happened up there, Wilde?" Kaiden's voice buzzed through the comm in their ears.

"What do you mean?" Nick asked into his mic.

"Your mic was on the whole time. It sounded like-"

"Never mind what it sounded like," Judy interrupted. "Nick, are you going to be ok?" Judy asked once more. The distant look on Nick's face gave away his feelings immediately, and she noticed a subtle tremble in his paws.

"I would really like it if we could leave, like, right now," Nick said.

Judy nodded, and the pair walked back to the elevator and went back down to the subbasement. A short elevator ride later, they met up with Kaiden and Kit, who were standing next to the elevator door. They immediately got in and Kit punched the button to take them up to the floor they had come in on. The fox and wolf had concerned expressions on their muzzles

"What wrong you guys?" Judy asked.

"I think, uh, I think we might have been seen," Kaiden replied.

"Please tell me you're joking," Nick said, while trying to maintain a straight face.

"I wish we could, but no," Kit said.

The elevator arrived and the doors opened onto the empty hallway. They walked slowly as they approached the corner of the T junction, Kaiden peered around it slowly but no one was there. He heaved a sigh of relief "Guess we got lucky then," he said confidently as they took a more relaxed pace.

Their calm was short lived as they approached the next corner and a pair of WRC troopers a wolf and tiger, rounded the turn. The collective group of mammals stood and stared at one another. The troopers gave Nick and Judy a glance then back to Kaiden and Kit.

A pregnant pause filled the space between them. Kaiden's eyes flicked from Nick and Judy, to the guards, to their guns, and back again. One moment passed, then another. Nick swallowed.

The troopers tried to raise their weapons to fire. Kaiden and Kit rushed passed Nick and Judy to charge the pair, pushing them into the nearby wall. The wolf used his free paw to punch Kaiden in the muzzle, causing his head to snap back. The tiger dropped his weapon and lunged forward, trying to savage Kit's neck with his fangs. Kit managed to slip a paw onto his throat to push him back just as he heard the snap of his maw.

"Oh, you mother fucker!" Kit growled as he pulled the tiger close and slammed a knee into his stomach. The tiger sucked air with a deep and painful gasp.

Kaiden and the wolf were still fighting for the weapon as they tumbled to the ground. The wolf managed to get on top and hold Kaiden back enough to try and aim his weapon. Judy made her move, she jumped into the air and with the full force of both her bunny feet kicked the wolf in the side of the head, catching him by surprise and throwing him off Kaiden. The wolf fell to the floor with a meaty thud, and the impact of his skull against the concrete knocked him out.

The tiger doubled over, and Kit took the opportunity to finish the fight by punching him in the side of the head hard enough to slam it into the wall. Both guards were now unconscious.

"Thank you Judy," Kaiden said as he offered his paw for her to help him get to his feet.

"Is everybody ok?" Judy asked as she dusted herself off.

"Let's keep moving. Someone had to have heard that," Kit said.

"Do we have time to hide them?" Nick asked.

"Don't bother, we just need to leave," Kit replied. "We'll be gone by the time they come to."

The four ran their way back to the pump room and climbed into the ventilation system and made their way back toward the outside of the building. The loud rush of the nearby air handlers filled their ears as they climbed out of the vent caps they first came in. They took the time to re secure the caps and get back to the parking lot. Kaiden and Kit peeked around the last corner and into the parking lot. The two guards they snuck past were gone and the lot, at least for the moment, was unattended.

"Must be a guard change," Kit murmured.

"That or they are gathering forces, either way we need to be gone," Kaiden replied.

The four quickly moved across the parking lot and back to the fence. Kaiden held the flap he created open for the others to go through before following behind. They sprinted to the van and clambered inside. Kit turned on the ignition, and backed the vehicle out of the bushes.

Once in the van and on the road, the four exhaled a collective sigh of relief. "Excellent work everyone!" Kaiden said, giving them a soft clap with his paws.

Judy and Nick sat in their seats trying to catch their collective breaths, tired from physical and mental strain. Nick hoped it had been worth it. Judy leaned into Nick and put her head on his shoulder; Nick rested his head on the side wall of the van.

Kit started to drive off and away from Kai Ren Medical. Nearby in the parking lot behind them, six motorcycles started their engines and sped off after them.


	10. Chapter 10: Objects In Mirror

Chapter 10: Objects In Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear

 _Several Minutes later._

The four drove away from Kai Ren Medical, trying to keep a low profile, when Kit bellowed from the front, "I think we got company."

Kaiden went to the back and saw 6 motor-cycles trailing behind them, each with a bat riding them wearing a helmet and a sub-machine gun strapped over their shoulders. "Kit, evasive action!" Kaiden ordered.

The first few bullets rippled through van, Kit was startled and swerved in reaction. Kaiden pulled his own weapon, and opened the door, firing a couple shots at the bats. The speed and motion of the bikes caused him to miss. He decided to follow a crazy idea that popped into his head, "Hey Kit, I'll be right back."

Kit looked at the rear view, his eyes widened as he saw the fox climbing out the open door. "Where the hell are you going?!" He yelled. Kaiden climbed up on the roof of van, the hench-bats took aim and fired towards him, Kaiden jumped onto the lead hench-bat's cycle, the sudden added weight threw them off balance and caused them to drop out of the pack, while the remaining five kept up with the van.

They fired another volley into the van while trying to keep from tumbling. Kit did his best to evade, but the hench-bats were relentless in their pursuit. The chase continued into the city, the sound of their engines revved and the crackle of gunfire rang out into the night.

"Judy, switch places with me, Nick cover the rear!" Nick stood and grabbed a rifle from the nearby rack on the sidewall of the van, Judy came up to the front and carefully switched places with Kit. Nick fired at the hench-bats, and managed to hit a bike frame on one and a handlebar of another.

Kit moved to the back and took his rifle off the rack, and took aim at one of the hench-bats. Kit and the bat exchanged shots, Kit had shot him through the visor, the bat's head snapped back from the impact and he and his bike tumbled. Kit reveled in his well-placed shot but was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a scream, he looked to his left and saw Nick had taken a round in the leg and was bleeding on the van floor.

"Nick!" Judy screamed as she glanced over her shoulder causing her to swerve and almost tip the van over.

Nick clutched his thigh and winced in pain, he gritted his teeth and sucked air through them, his ears instantly pinned back against his head. Kit took out another bat, this time hitting the engine causing it to lose speed, the engine making a wet sputter and smoke billowed out of the exhaust as he fell away from the pack.

"The bag, use the bag!" Kit called out over his shoulder.

Nick grabbed the nearby bag and opened it, there was a bottle of Vodka, painkillers, and a first aid kit.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Drink the vodka, pop the pills and dig it out!"

"What!"

* * *

 _Meanwhile…_

Kaiden and the bat struggled for control. This bat seemed stronger than Kaiden had known bats to be, when he felt the punch across his muzzle, it was hard enough to cause his head to snap back rather violently. He shook off the pain, and fought back.

The bat grabbed Kaiden's collar and head butted him, breaking his visor glass over the fox's face, cutting his face and leaving him in a daze. Kaiden's medical implants kicked in, jolting him out of his daze. As he looked into the bat's now exposed eyes he noticed that the the sclera of his eyes were red, beyond simply bloodshot but completely crimson in color. The bat uttered grunts and groans but had not spoken any actual words. He appeared to be in a similar state as being savage from nighthowlers but the bat was still in control of his faculties. Kaiden shocked upon realizing this, and the bat took the fox's hesitation as opportunity to throw him off the bike. Kaiden tumbled, sliding along the ground to a stop, his metal limbs sparking against the ground. The bat stopped and spun around instead and glared at the fox.

Kaiden stood back up and stared right back, the bat took off his helmet and threw it to the ground. He growled with anticipation, even revved the engine in an attempt to intimidate him.

Kaiden reached for his holster only to realize his gun wasn't there. "Damn it."

The bat reached down under his vest and pulled out a long black low profile blade. He motioned to Kaiden, grunting and pointing at Kaiden and then himself as if to say " _You….Me….._ "

"So that's how you want to play it," Kaiden whispered to himself. He threw off his coat to give himself more freedom of movement. The top of his left forearm opened and a long metal blade came out of its sheath and extended over his wrist and paw. "Okay, your move." He said.

The bat giggled excitedly and revved his engine, spinning out his tires and caused them to screech loudly against the road. He released his brake charged towards Kaiden, his blade at the ready. Kaiden's heads up display went frantic to calculate the bat's approach. As the bat closed in, he drew back his blade back preparing for his strike, his mouth drooled and his tongue wicked into the wind like a demon reading himself for the taste of blood. Kaiden decided to chance at another tactic, he dropped his right arm down, the paw quickly folding back on itself and opened, doing his best to conceal it from the bat.

The hench-bat now milliseconds away laughed loudly over the roar of his engine, he could smell the coming blood, which only made him even more voracious. Kaiden dove at the last second as the hench-bat took his swing the blade cutting through the wind. The bat immediately slowed to turn around for another attempt, but Kaiden wasted no time, leveling his right arm at him, it was not a paw at the end but a barrel. The bat's eyes went wide as he saw the fox glare at him with contempt and gritted teeth. The barrel fired a concussive energy pulse, the bat's world went blue-white and threw him off his bike. The fox quickly switched arms and fired the blade off its mounting and into the bat, both bat and blade flew back and stuck to a nearby tree trunk. Kaiden went over to the bat, blood was pouring from the wound.

"You….cheat…" grunted the Bat.

Kaiden looked at the bat in disgust, "This isn't some kind of game!" he said.

"You...already...lost," grunted the bat as he coughed up blood and let out a death rattle.

Kaiden raised an eyebrow at the statement and then turned around and looked down the dark road, Kaiden quickly realized the bat's meaning. He retrieved the blade out of the tree, reattaching it to the connector in his arm. The body slumped to the ground with a soft wet squish, the blood already pooling beneath it. Kaiden sheathed his blade and returned his right paw to normal shape. He found his gun resting nearby at the edge of the road. After retrieving it, he jumped on the bike and sped off to catch up to the others.

* * *

 _Meanwhile…_

Nick had downed several gulps of vodka from the bottle and several pills of painkillers, with the van bouncing around he tried to be careful at the task at paw, which was to dig out the bullet from his thigh, his paws were shaking from the anticipation of the pain he knew would come with it but he needed to remove the bullet.

"Nick, I'm here, everything will be alright," Judy said trying to offer her support

"Tell me that after I get this thing out, Carrots," He quipped trying to break the tension of the moment with a bad attempt at levity.

He braced himself, taking several quick sharp breaths before he started. He dug into the wound, feeling around, trying his best not to focus on the pain or the wet texture of the inside of his leg. After several attempts, he found the bullet and pulled it out. He cried out in pain as he removed the bullet, the blood lubricating its exit. The bullet dropped with a metallic clink against the van floor and Nick trembled as the pain seemed to feel like a red hot poker digging into his leg.

Kit looked back and checked on him. "Good, now the brown packet, it's styptic powder it will staunch the bleeding," Kit kept his aim focused on the bats but glanced over his shoulder to see the fox bleeding on the van floor. Nick retrieved the packet, it said styptic on the outside, he tore it open and then hesitated before he poured the contents onto his wound.

"This is going to hurt isn't it?"

"Uh…."Kit was reluctant to answer.

"Yeah..." Nick replied, realizing what the likely answer was.

Nick tried to mentally prepare himself and took a few rapid breaths and then held his breath as he poured it into the wound. The pain was unlike anything he expected, he let out a loud scream as the powder did its work, it bubbled and crystalized the blood, stopping the bleeding but the pain was so intense Nick passed out. Judy looked back and saw Nick not moving on the van floor. "Nick? Nick! Oh my God, Nick!" she screamed. Kit spun around to explain. "It's ok, he's just… Oh shit, look out!" Kit's eyes went wide as he tried to point forward. Judy turned back around just in time to see what Kit was so concerned about, the van headed for a concrete divider and there was no chance to turn to evade it.

The van hit the divider, it flipped and spun into the air, everything lurched forward, then back as the van turned, everything went into free fall, and time seemed to slow to a crawl. Kit was ejected out the back the van, Judy turned and grabbed Nick as his unconscious body was sliding back towards the door, she desperately tried to hold onto him. She watched in horror as she lost her grip and saw him fly out the back. The van hit the ground and she was slammed against the roof, hitting her head in the process. The gash on her forehead trickled blood down her face, soaking the fur. The van slid to a stop, and Judy flashed in and out of consciousness. Everything felt fuzzy and muffled, her ears rang and vision was blurred. She could already hear sirens in the distance, normally a welcome sound but she knew that whoever attacked the police station and manipulated the news most likely had insiders on the force. It pained her to even think that as much as her head pounded from the concussion she was certain she had. Judy struggled to get out of the seat belt and climbed out of the van. She felt the cool night air against her fur, looking around dizzy, the vertigo was setting in. She didn't see Nick or Kit anywhere, in fact she could barely focus her vision more than a few feet in front of her. A small bubble of clarity and just beyond it a muffled out of focus blend of color and light. She stumbled a short distance and fell over to a nearby embankment, and tumbled down into a culvert.

"Nick, Nick. Where are you Nick?" She said in her confusion. A large silhouette approached her, a point of light cast down from the figure. "Officer Hopps. You're coming with me." stated the figure.

Judy could offer no resistance, her eyes drooped shut and she fell unconscious.

* * *

 _Later…_

By the time Kaiden had managed to catch up, two police cruisers, an ambulance and even a fire truck were already on the scene. None of his comrades were in the vicinity. Kaiden tried his com-link

"Anybody on the line, Judy, Nick, Kit–"

"This is HQ, Talmadge here," He answered.

"Boss, we got a problem, there has been a collision, operatives down, repeat operatives down,"

Kaiden heard three mic clicks on the line then a moment later another three clicks again.

"Who's there?"

"Locator, follow locator–" Kit answered, from the sound of his voice, he was in pain.

Kaiden turned on his PDA and switched to the locator tracker, Each of them had some form of tracker, Kit and Kaiden had them as part of their implants while Nick and Judy's were in their radios. Kaiden saw a stationary blip nearby, another blip that was moving away from them and there was no third.

"I'm missing someone! Kit who is it?"

"Don't know– Just come and get me."

Kaiden followed the nearest blip which was about a block away, when he arrived, he was near an alley. It was dingy and dark, Kaiden peered into the blackness.

"Kit, are you here?" He asked, Kit stumbled out, cradling his organic arm with his mechanical one and covered in cuts. Dried blood matted his fur, but nothing appeared to be broken. He wasn't as heavily augmented as Kaiden but still had been given reinforcements in his body to be able resist what would be catastrophic damage to normal mammals. Reinforcements or not, he appeared to be in a lot of pain and it would take some time for his medical implant to take care of the damage. He helped Kit over to a nearby bus stop bench. "We need a car, something," Kit said.

Kaiden followed the suggestion and went around the nearby corner and looked for a vehicle. "What happened?" Kaiden asked as he continued the conversation over the comm. "Nick was hit, I switched places with Judy, to back her up, and we hit something, I don't remember getting thrown out of the van," Kit replied.

"What about them?"

"I don't know, what does the locator say?"

"There is only one other signal, so either Judy or Nick, I can't tell."

"Fuck," Kit muttered..

Kaiden came around the corner in an old pea green colored sedan, practically a junker, the paint was thin in some places revealing the bare metal skin of the frame below but at least it ran. He got out and helped his into the

"Jeez, you just had to pick the ugliest car you could find, didn't you," Kit said in jest.

"Couldn't find one that I liked." Kaiden replied.

The two followed the signal and it led to a house, back towards the residential area of the Savannah District. The two glanced at one another with cocked eyebrows..

"OK, this is not what I was expecting," Kaiden said.

"Not unless the Council is rolling around in a '72 Plymouth," replied Kit pointing to an old car in the driveway.

"So how you want to play this?"

"I could go in there check it out?"

"Are you sure you're up for this, you are still injured, you know?" inquired Kaiden

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry I can do this," Kit replied.

"Okay, then, let's do this,"

They two got out of the car and Kit went to the front door, while Kaiden took the back. Kit checked the front door to see if it was unlocked, he slowly turned the handle and pushed gently on the door and crept in. It was a private residence, wood furniture, dining room table, a china cabinet. What you expect to be in an average home, there were bloody rags and bottles of rubbing alcohol and peroxide on the table. Kit turned and looked toward the den and Judy was on the couch, she had a blanket covering her up to her shoulders and her head wound had a square of gauze covering it with tape holding it down.

Kit held his weapon at the ready, and peered around the den and no one else was around. He walked over to Judy and attempted to grab her when he felt the cold steel of a rifle barrel placed on his head.

"Give me one good reason, not to blow you head off right now?" asked the deep voice.

The voice belonged to a cape buffalo, who had a rifle readied at Kit's head. Suddenly two guns came from behind a corner and pressed against the buffalo's head.

"I'll give you two" Kaiden replied as he came around from the corner and stood to the buffalo's left.

"Drop the rifle." Kaiden demanded.

"I don't think so," The cape buffalo replied.

Kaiden scoffed "I count two of us and one of you, that means you do as I say."

"You might want to count again."

Kaiden heard the sound of a shotgun slide behind him and immediately realized what it meant.

"You mind not pointing the guns at my friend, please" said the baritone voice.

Kaiden turned and saw the voice belonged to a small Fennec fox, standing on the nearby table

"Who the fuck are you?"

The buffalo, took advantage of Kaiden's hesitation and pointed a pawgun at him with his other hoof, everyone shifted stances and ended up pointing weapons at each other. Kaiden looked and took stock in the situation.

"Good to know this cliché is alive and well."

There they stood, Kit pointing a weapon at the fennec fox, the buffalo pointed with his two weapons at the both of them, Kaiden pointing at the buffalo and the small fox and the fennec pointing the shot gun at Kaiden.

"So who wants to start?" the buffalo said

"Balls….I admire that," Kaiden replied.

"No, not balls, I'm just not willing to give in to you metal bastards without a fight."

"Metal bastards? Care to elaborate?" Kit asked.

"Don't play games with me, you killed my officers and destroyed my station, some of those mammals were my best friends and some of the finest officers I've ever known and I'll be damned if I'm going to let you come in here to finish the job."

Kaiden and Kit glanced at each other and raised an eyebrow each . "You think we were the ones that attacked the police station?"

"You don't fool me, those metal arms and legs, I saw them before,"

"No…that was someone else."

"You expect me to believe that two groups of maniacs running around, _both_ with metal limbs."

"I assure you we have nothing to do with them."

"Now you're the one who's got balls, trying to lie to me with a gun pointed at your head."

"No lie, we _are_ on the same side."

The conversation seemed to be at an impasse, and tension was palpable as they sat in the most uncomfortable of silences. Judy awoke with a groan and reached for her head. "Nick? Nick?"

The group stood still, all wanting to attend to Judy but unable to while still in the confines of the standoff. Judy opened her eyes, her eyes resolved and her vision focused, She saw the figure that had brought her here.

"Bogo? Chief Bogo? You're alive?" Judy asked.

"Yes, Hopps... I need you to answer a question, and quickly now, Do you know these mammals?" He nodded towards Kit and Kaiden. Judy sat up on the couch and realized at what was going on. "Oh god, Yes I know them, stop please, these are friends," she replied.

The group relaxed and put their weapons down, Kit brushed his hackles flat with his paw.

"This is Chief Bogo, and that's Finnick, Nick's friend. This is Kaiden and Kit, they work for a group called Bureau 13," Judy said while gesturing to each mammal with her paw.

"Whatever," Bogo said. He gave a loud dismissive huff then walked over to his dining room table and took a seat in the chair.

Judy explained the situation to Bogo, the reason for the attack on the police station, who the 'Fiends' were, and the Council, and who Bureau 13 was. The information only seemed to anger him further.

"So… you freaks decide to turn my precinct into a war zone, and my officers into casualties."

"Hey, fuck you, buddy," Kit said.

"Tough words, tin can."

Kaiden stepped in between them.

"It sounds to me like you've got bigger problems, Judy what happened? Where is Nick?" Finnick asked.

"I saw him slide out of the van, the cops came. Proper procedure would be to take him to Zootopia General."

"We should contact our operatives and have them pick him up" said Kaiden.

"Operatives? You mean there are _more_ of you?" Bogo asked.

"Espionage, mass murder, secret operations, How exactly are you different from these Fiends'?"

Kit bared his fangs and a low level growl came from his throat "You're getting on my nerves, buffalo."

"Well tell me then, what makes you different?" asked Bogo.

"We don't butcher innocent women and children," Kit replied as he narrowed his eyes at Bogo.

Kaiden held his paws up and walked over to the table, he dispensed a few pills of vicodin, popping them into his mouth and chasing them with several gulps of water from a nearby bottle. "It's your story Kit," he said.

"Fine, I'll start, the Outback Embassy 'accident' 10 years ago, he one where the claim was a gas main exploded. Remember that?" Kit asked.

"You don't need to educate me, I was one of the first responders there, actually," Bogo replied.

"Well it wasn't some bullshit accident like it was later claimed, it was an attack."

Bogo sat silent for a moment and nodded, his gaze unfocused and fixed as if peering through the years of his memory back to that day. "I always suspected something else."

"Right… and if you remember that was when the embassy had planned a family day, inviting everyone in Zootopia to come out for fun and games. I had just gotten out of the service a month prior and this was me trying to be the big family wolf I like to think myself as being. "

Bogo, Finnick, Judy and Kaiden sat and listened.

"And then, that bastard dropped a building on me, my family and everyone there….just to get ONE guy."

"One guy!" said Kit pounding into the table.

"I come to in the hospital month later, for them to tell me my family, my _entire_ family is dead! That both my legs gone, my arm crushed and that the chances of me leaving that hospital, were practically fucking zero."

Judy's ears dropped at Kit's words. She could definitely relate, the other officers at the station had become close to her since she started, since the end of the Nighthowler case. To have them taken from her hit her deeply, and she imagined what she would feel had her family was killed like that. The only word could even begin to describe it, "devestated". Bogo was visible moved, his expression softened, Finnick just shook his head and muttered to himself and tried to process.

"Then what happened?" Judy asked.

"I came to him and offered him a chance, if he wanted it. To take that sadness and transform it into anger to get back at the lynx responsible." Kaiden said.

"For revenge?" asked Finnick.

"You could say that, or punishment, to hold these mammals responsible for what they did."

"You mean justice?" Bogo corrected.

"No. Justice is blind, and my eyes are fucking wide open, I do this, so that we can take them down, and they won't be around to do this to anyone else's family. Yes, it's personal, about as personal as it gets," Kit said.

Bogo took a breath and sighed, he turned to Kaiden who was busy processing his own losses.

"What about you?" asked Bogo.

Kaiden turned to Bogo. "Mine is uh...a different story, maybe someday I'll tell it."

There was a silence in the room, after a few seconds it started to feel awkward when Judy broke it. "We got to find some way to get to the hospital."

Judy, Kaiden and Kit gathered their things and started to make their way for the door when Bogo and Finnick stood up as well.

"And what do you think you're doing?" asked Kaiden.

"We are going with you," Finnick replied.

"Well, I'm not one to turn down free help, grab whatever you need."

Finnick grabbed his bag and Bogo grabbed some gear and stuffed it into a bag marked "Zootopia Police Department" and went with the rest of the group.

"How did you and Bogo meet up, Finnick?" Judy asked.

"Well that's a funny story, actually…." Finnick started to explain as they got into the car and drove in the direction of the hospital.

* * *

 _Later…_

As the group made their way to the Hospital, Kaiden was on comms trying to get information as to whether any foxes involved in a motor vehicle accident were brought in to nearby hospitals. Kit was driving with, Bogo, Finnick and Judy in the back seat.

"It's good to see you are alright, Chief," Judy said.

"It's going to take more than falling off a building to get me, Hopps." Bogo replied with a smirk.

"Still I'm glad you're alright," she said.

"Thank you, it's good to know you're alright too," he replied with a soft smile.

Judy smiled back at the buffalo, she glanced at Finnick and felt a small bit of happiness at the fact they are alright, but a feeling of dread rushed in like a tide when she thought of Nick and made her stomach turn in her belly. She had gotten so used to Nick being around that she had come to depend on it. It was a comfort knowing he was there and that he would look at her with such fascination, as if seeing things through new eyes for the first time, it made her feel special.

Finnick put a paw on her shoulder. "We'll find him Judy, we'll find him."

Up in the driver's seat Kit was keeping eye out for anything suspicious, and Kaiden finished up his conversation when he turned back to Judy.

"We have a problem." He exclaimed.

"What's the problem?" Judy asked.

"Are…..you sure, Nick was taken by the police?"

"Yes, I saw the lights, and Nick fell out near the van."

"No, Judy, I mean did you actually _see_ them take him?"

"Why? What's wrong?" she asked, her sense of dread taking urgency in her voice.

"Because, according to my contacts…There were no cops in that area, no accident was reported, and no ambulance was dispatched. As far as anyone is concerned what happened….didn't," he said.

"Then where is he? Where is Nick!?" she demanded.

* * *

 _Later_ … _At an undisclosed location._

Nick felt the cold rush of water hit his face, it snapped him out of his unconscious state. He blinked several times and tried to focus, the water dripping off his fur. He looked around, the room was dark and cold, there was a single beam of light casting down upon him from above. It obscured his vision beyond appearing only as a ring of black around him. he felt his wrists bound. Restraints were on his wrists and his neck, attached to a cross bar, which itself was attached to a chain leading up into the ceiling, his ankles with their own shackles attached to the floor, he could feel his range of movement was limited.

"Hello." he called out.

He heard the echoes of his own voice off the walls of the chamber but when it quieted down it was silence. Nick thought he was alone until he heard a voice from the shadows.

"Nicholas Wilde," said a voice.

"Who's there?"

"Nick Wilde, you have no idea how long I have waited for this moment," the voice continued

"Who are you?"

The sound of someone pacing around Nick, the click of a heel lightly rapping against the floor.

"Nicholas P. Wilde, age 32, son of Nancy and John Wilde. Currently no occupation, single, unmarried, and no children, current associates are: Finnick Grey, Flash Thompson and Officer Judith Hopps. Am I leaving anything out?"

"What do you want?" asked Nick.

The pacing stopped back in front of Nick, and there was the sound of a sigh.

"I want you," said the voice.

Nick disturbed by that statement, focusing on the voice it sounds strangely familiar.

"Do I know you? Have we met somewhere?"

The voice steps forward and comes into the light, it was a weasel

"Does this help?" The weasel asked.

Nick looked at the weasel, he seemed familiar but couldn't quite place him.

"My name is Sidney Ridgeway."

" Or how about this; 'Would you like to enjoy a tasty refreshment by the bar m'boy'" Sidney replied using his marten's voice.

"It was you"

"At your service," he replied making a gesture with his paw as if tipping a hat. "Of course, I've been keeping in touch long after that. I remember that clueless expression from the police station. Don't you?" asked Sid

Nick flashed back to the ferret who glared at him in the police station.

"Not to mention the garage, that was me too." Said Sid

Nick remembers the ferret in the parking garage.

"I'm actually surprised you didn't put that one together more quickly though."

"Why? What reason could you have for this? You screw up my life, and hound me this entire time, for what some stupid flash drive?!" Nick exclaimed.

Sid cackled loudly and smiled "Oh my dear Nick, there is so much you have yet to understand, you honestly think this is about the flash drive?"

"It's not?"

"No, my boy, it never was, it was about you, always you," Sid replied.

"You're here, because you have been living a lie, because you have been led astray. You're here to find the answer to the question 'Who am I' I see in you, great skill and natural talent, greater still, your potential to be something...more. But in order to embrace your true self, there is one obstacle that will need to be removed first."

"And what would that be?" Nick asked.

"Why Judith Hopps of course,"

Nick bared his fangs and lurched forward against his restraints. Sid stepped back but only just out of Nick's reach.

"She is what is keeping you grounded in this in between space, being essentially an animal with a paw in two worlds. You are a predator, Nick Wilde, your purpose is to find that what you desire and take it, consume it, and absorb its essence into your own."

"You don't honestly think I'm going to tell you, no matter what you do to me," He scoffed.

"Nick, you still don't understand. I won't be the one who removes the obstacle. By the time I am through with you, you will beg me to allow you to cast off your remaining shackle. The author of Judy Hopps demise will be you, and it will be written in her blood….by your own paws."

Sid chuckled and walked back into the darkness, leaving the room. The night turned off and left Nick alone in the darkness to ponder Sidney's words.


End file.
